Harry Potter and the House of Blackburn
by way of life
Summary: She had a secret of her own, they had a secret of their own, but what happens when her secret turns their world upside down. Will she be able to cope with what has her life now become. Together Will keep their secret safe? How will this effect the life of one particular young man? Would his life be one more sacrifice in war or will he write his own destiny?
1. Guess what!

**A/N 1: S****ome main points about this story, that should be kept in mind before you read this story, are as follows:**

**1) This ****is not your typical crossover where Bella is highly dependent on Edward.****  
**

**2) Initially every chapter that I write would be for development of story background, so expect harry potter's arrival in this story to be at a later stage but he would be an important character.**

**3) Don't expect**** Harry to turn into a kick-ass fighter overnight or in any number of nights.**

**4) _Time line: 2 months since starts of Harry's 5th year. And for twilight, a few days ago before baseball match. _**

**If you can handle above points then do give this story a chance. Happy reading!**

**UPDATE: IMPORTANT: READ A/N 2.**

**-o0o0o00o0o0o-**

**FORKS**

**10th November, 1995**

Time sure flies fast, when you want to do something that will probably be one of those moments that decide the course which your life takes. It flies even faster when you do not know when the right time would be to do such a thing. It was during one of these decisions that Isabella Marie Swan found herself.

Secrets have a strange way of being shared. If someone you care about reveals their secret then you are obliged to reveal yours, otherwise they may feel betrayed. Ironic isn't it, because secrets are meant to be kept to one self and are not meant to be shared.

It was with these thoughts that Isabella Marie Swan or better known as Bella went to bed the night before her 17th birthday, sleep evading her at a speed of hundred miles per hour. Now, to everyone their birthday is something special, but for Bella that next day was extra special than any other birthday she had had in her short life of 17 years. The next day will bring with itself joy, happiness and a reason to celebrate but above all these, it would bring with itself freedom; freedom from being watched every second of her life, freedom to be whole again and freedom to be her-self again instead of a weak shadow that she was now.

But, just as a lamp that spreads light into the world along with its shadow, the next day brought uncertainty, guilt, a foreboding of doom and above all, the fear of rejection with itself. The weird part, in this mess that next day guaranteed to be, was that this shadow to all her happiness was of her own choosing; the choice that she could have avoided and still could avoid if she wanted to.

But she knew she could not stall 'the big revelation' any longer than she already had. At least till now she had a reason to keep her secret, just a secret; but starting next day she would not even have that reason.

She scoffed at her brain for choosing the words 'the big revelation' but let it go, as in some ways it was 'the big revelation'. People hide from others one thing or two, but here she was hiding everything about herself; starting from her name to who she was, where she was from, what kind of person she was, to even what she looked like. Considering all these things and more, it might be just fitting to term it 'the big revelation'.

Sleep still evading her, she cursed mentally. She dare not curse openly, not for the fear of Charlie hearing her, but for the fear of one of the vampires hearing her, who had ability of advanced hearing and did not feel ashamed to eavesdrop. She sighed, though the antics of her vampires irritated her, she could not help but feel protected with them around, well, except for Rosalie.

She missed her home, not Phoenix but her real home. All the people that knew her even remotely would say that Bella hated 'the cold and the wet' thus Forks was giving her a difficult time. All these people would be partially correct and partially wrong. Partially correct as Forks was giving her a difficult time and partially wrong in the part that she hated 'the cold and the wet'; nothing could be more far from truth. She did not hate 'the cold and the wet', it was just that it made her sad by reminding her of her home which was so much similar to Forks in part about 'the cold and the wet', but yet it was not her home.

All these thoughts were enough to give any normal person a massive headache but Bella was not any normal person now, was she. She had been dealing with these thoughts from the day she realized she was in love with Edward and what would this mean for her. Her family would not accept, she scoffed at the thought of her family accepting her relationship, huh, more likely they would retaliate against her. After all, a pure-blood could not mingle with the lower sort, that was stooping to the level of blood traitors and that could not be allowed.

Pushing all these thought aside Bella tried to clear her mind. For her it was not as easy as sounds, as all the foreboding and anticipation mixed with excitement kept creeping back in her mind. After some initial failures Bella finally had a victory over her thoughts and slowly fell asleep.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Bella lay asleep in her bed, alone for a change as Alice had not let Edward visit Bella the previous night. Alice wanted Edward to wait, to see Bella on her birthday, as anticipation increases the excitement was her reasoning; so she had formed a silly excuse that she needed his help and thus preventing him to meet her.

Edward knew exactly what her reasons and believes were and he had outright called on her attempted bluff. She had tried to hide her reasons from Edward but she was so focused on planning the party that she was not able to recite Bible in reverse in Hebrew. Edward had argued, and argued, with Alice but she refused to budge and had not allowed him to visit Bella.

After his arguments failed he had practically whined to be allowed to go but to no avail. When it too failed he had tried sneaking out but Alice being Alice had seen it beforehand, as she had been expecting it and blocked his escape, every damn time. When finally Edward relented he had grumbled all night and then sulked in his room, much to the amusement of his family. Even Esme had to control herself from laughing out loud at Edward's teenage behavior, in a very motherly way of course.

In between her planning the party, trying to keep Edward out of her head (by trying to recite bible in reverse in Hebrew) and stopping him from sneaking out from under her nose she had been unable to look for Bella's decision and her future. Had she tried to look for Bella's future then what she would have seen would have had Alice considering going to psychologist for a checkup.

But as Alice had not seen Bella's future and Edward had not been allowed to see Bella during the night, thus it was only Bella who woke up due to sudden pop and appearance of a very strange creature in her room.

"Young Mistress Blackburn", the creature said in a tiny voice.

Though Bella had been awakened by the pop but it was hearing her true name that jolted her right out of the morning haziness. She glanced towards the source of voice and sighed in relief.

Standing a few feet away from her bed was a tiny creature that had a body similar to human but clearly was not one. It barely reached 3 feet of height, had unnaturally pointed ears, big bulging eyes, a skinny frame which was covered in a suite that one would expect a muggle butler to wear.

"Oh it's you Dinckle." Bella asked with a sigh of relief. She did not know, of what she was afraid of; she had been expecting a house elf to show up on her birthday but recognizing it as theirs had released an unknown knot in her heart.

"Dinckle at your service young mistress Blackburn. Master and Mistress Blackburn sends Dinckle to deliver things to young Mistress Blackburn and wish her a very happy birthday. They also tells Dinckle to convey their sadness at not being able to be with young Mistress Blackburn on the day when young Mistress Blackburn is no longer young." The elf replied with a nod. The elf looked like it had lived a fair share of its life but it could not be called old.

The elf then brought out a small object, which on one look appeared to be a toy trunk used by little girls from the pocket of his butler styled clothes, and kept it on bed. Then he brought out what looked like a long piece of beautifully carved wood, and offered it to Bella. The elf held the piece of wood with reverence, he held it from the pointed end, so that when Bella took it from him she was holding the handle and was able to cast any curse or charm.

As soon as Bella touched the piece of wood, she felt a warmth spread through her hand and then in her entire body. She rejoiced in the feeling that made her whole again and the feeling that told her that she no longer was vulnerable. If Bella was smiling previously the she was positively grinning now.

"Master and Mistress Blackburn also sends Mistress Blackburn's wand and tells Dinckle to convey that all the charms that Ministry put on her wand are now removed from the wand and that the wand is perfectly safe to use. They also tells Dinckle that Mistress Blackburn can also use her special magic but instruct her not to reveal it to anybody." The elf continued and then fell silent, waiting for his next orders.

When Bella finally emerged from the warmth and protection that her wand provided, she turned to the elf and said "That will be all Dinckle." She expected the elf to pop out and go back to her home in England but when it didn't do that and instead stayed standing with its head bowed, she asked "Is something the matter?"

The elf bowed his head in sadness and said "Master tells Dinckle to remain with Mistress Blackburn and not to return home."

Bella frowned. Had it not been the time of war, Bella wouldn't have thought anything of it other than her parents wanting her to be well cared for; but these were not peaceful times and as of today she was an adult in her society too. Things must not have been going good if they sent Dinckle here to keep Bella safe, she concluded after a lot of pondering.

She smiled at the elf and said "Ok, then let's get you a place to stay." The elf smiled but it was a sad smile. After a moment the elf said "Mistress Blackburn? Is Dinckle a bad elf? Is Dinckle not good enough?" the elf was almost on the verge of crying. Though it's head was bowed, Bella could still feel the dampness that filled the large eyes of the elf.

Bella sighed, knowing where this was going. She did not want to comfort the elf, she pondered for a moment to tell the elf to mind its own business and be gone but decided against it, she did not want to deal with moody, crying elf later. Choosing her words carefully; because if she even so much as touched the topic of being released, the elf would be frantic and definitely start crying, so she smiled and said "I don't think that is the case Dinckle. I think they want someone to take care of me." At this the elf smiled widely as if that was the truest thing possible.

The house in which Bella and Charlie lived was not a large house by any standard; in fact it was quite a small house with 2 rooms, one hall, one bathroom and a kitchen. The room on ground floor belonged to Charlie and his ex-wife Renee when they were married, now it belonged to dear old Charlie. While room on the first floor belonged to his daughter Isabella Marie Swan, the very room she was currently occupying and of the person she was portraying to be.

Bella turned to the cupboard under the stairs and opened the door to find it heavily stocked and webbed with spiders. She then called to Charlie and asked, "Charlie is there a room where we can house an elf?" Charlie came down the stairs brushing his teeth, looked at the elf and asked, "Aren't you Blackburn family elf?"

"Yes sir, I is", Dinckle replied soberly, pleased to be acknowledged as family elf of House Blackburn.

Charlie pondered for a moment or two and then replied, "Well, we can house him in attic but we have a large amount of stuff there that would need to be moved but I guess we can do it." Then Charlie noticed the door to the cupboard open and Dinckle looking in it apprehensively and asked, "You weren't planning on housing him in the cupboard were you?"

Bella blushed slightly and said nothing, too embarrassed for it anyway.

Charlie said nothing and went back to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Bella regained her composure and said to the elf, "Move everything from the attic in here and if it does not fits then shrink everything to fit in here."

Bella didn't do any house work at home but she did learn to cook because she liked it thus this was the only work in which she contributed, much to the discomfort of Dinckle and the other elves.

When Charlie came out of the shared bathroom, then Bella went in to finish her morning routine. By the time she came out Dinckle had already prepared breakfast and was serving it to Charlie.

When she started eating, Charlie gave her a wrapped box and said, "Happy birthday Bella." To which she smiled and replied, "Thanks Charlie."

They finished eating their meal and Dinckle wicked away the dishes to clean. Charlie, a little uncomfortable, then asked Bella, "Um, what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

Bella pondered on that for a moment and replied, "Nothing much, going to Edward's house."

Charlie grunted and then went to work in his cruiser. When he was out of sight Bella turned to Dinckle and said, "Dinckle I might call you today to meet some people, now, they are not regular people so when you come you might feel frightened due to their presence but they won't hurt you" the elf looked frightened so Bella tried to calm him and said, "just cling to me and do what I say and don't worry, they won't hurt you. Now I am going, Remember don't go out of the house no matter what."

Bella then got dressed in one of the dresses that Alice had bought her and went to Cullen house. As soon as she had parked her truck, Edward was out of the house already opening the truck's door for her. She then stepped out and Edward scooped her in his arms kissing her on the lips. When he pulled out he whispered in her ear, "Happy Birthday, love." Bella giggled as a 17 year old should and put her arms around Edward's neck and replied, "Thank you." She had her mask firmly in place again but she felt agitated at the thought of being without her mask for the first time with Cullen's around.

Edward then put her down and said, "Yes Alice I know that other people exist, be patient I am bringing her in." As soon as he said that he realized his mistake of asking Alice to be patient and said, "Stay there Alice, I am bringing her."

He then turned towards Bella and said, "Let's go in or Alice will have my head."

Bella laughed and said, "It was a mistake on your part to tell Alice to be patient; patient is a word that is not in her dictionary."

"I heard that." Alice's voice came from inside the house as she huffed.

"You should not eavesdrop on other's conversation then." Bella replied as she entered the house. Everyone was present there; Alice was in front of everybody where she bounced excitedly. Behind her Emmett was standing, looking ready to pounce on Bella when given a chance, he must be thinking something along these lines as Edward scowled at him. Carlisle and Esme were standing behind Emmett with a kind smile on their lips. Rosalie and Jasper were occupying the last positions, both with different expressions. While Jasper's expression was carefully guarded, Rosalie had scowl on her face which clearly stated that she didn't want to be present.

Alice came bouncing from her spot and hugged Bella the moment she entered and wished her happy birthday. Emmett practically tackled Bella as he came to hug her, then he scooped her up and twirled her in a circle. After Emmett put her down on the floor, Carlisle wished her while shaking her hand and Esme gave her a very motherly hug as she wished her a very happy birthday. Jasper just nodded in acknowledgement while Rosalie's scowl deepened.

Suddenly, all the nervousness was back full on; all the feelings from yesterday were making themselves known again. At this Jasper's expression went from guarded to one of confusion and Edward's went from scowling at Emmett to one of worry. "What's the matter, Bella?" Edward asked, worry clear in his voice.

Bella composed herself a little and said, "I have something to tell all of you, but first let all of us be seated." Hearing this Edward's worry reached a new height and he looked at Alice with a silent plea to look into her future. Bella noticed this and warned, "Alice, don't look into my future. Besides you won't understand it anyway until I explain it." Now everyone in the room wore an expression of worry as why Alice was not allowed to look into the future, well except for Rosalie that is, she wore an expression that said she was bored out of her mind.

"Stop panicking people. It's just that you have trusted me with your secret so it is only fair that you all should know mine." Bella huffed from where she was sitting. Bella's statement calmed everyone a little but apprehensiveness was still in the air. "Now, you all know that how I found out that Edward was a Vampire?" When everyone nodded she continued, "I guessed it when I found that Edward could not be human." Everyone knew this, as they had been pretty mad at Edward for letting the cat out of the bag but what they couldn't understand was why was Bella telling them this?

Continuing her statement Bella said "Vampires are not the only supernatural creatures or creatures of magic as we call it. There are many others like Goblins, Dwarfs, Giants, witches, Hags, Mermaids or Merpeople, Werewolves, Elves, shape shifters, Zombie and many more."

Noticing the incredulous expressions of everyone in the room and this time including Rosalie, Bella said in an angry tone, "Now don't look at me like I am mad or something. How could you all think that you were the only ones with magic? How arrogant are all of you!"

When no one said anything while Bella openly glared at everyone and silence started to become uncomfortable then Rosalie said in a voice which practically dripped with sarcasm, "And you would know this because you are one them, these creatures of magic that you claim exist."

The venom dripping from Bella's voice was more of a shock to everyone than her answer, even Rosalie was too stunned to answer, "Yes Rosalie, I am one of the beings of magic."

After the shock of Bella's Venomous voice wore off, they registered her answer and did not know what to say. The things that she claimed existed were myths, creatures of fairytale and nothing more. If anyone of them existed then shouldn't they have met these creatures at least once in their lives or at least Carlisle would have met them if not anybody else?

Too stunned to know what he was doing Edward said to Bella, "Um, Bella maybe we should go and talk first and then explain it to everyone else."

Bella then turned to Edward and gazed directly in his eyes with hurt evident on her face, "No, they need to know it too, and you should believe me above all Edward, you are my boyfriend, I am not kidding you know." She said all this in very small voice.

Edward did not know what to do. He, never in all of his life of over 100 years had expected to hear the women he loved say this. Not even in his wildest dreams and fantasies. His brows furrowed and his forehead scrunched in worry as he considered Bella's word. He had not once met or even heard about these creatures that Bella had named. Even though they lived in between humans, surely he would have came across someone of these races that Bella had named, even if he had not come across these creatures, surely Carlisle would have had in his long life. It was not possible for him to not know about these creatures given his gift of mind reading. Then why would Bella say something like this? Did she fall again and hit her head causing her to hallucinate?

Bella noticed Edward's expression and something in her demeanor changed and her eyes hardened as did her voice and she said, "If even for once, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, you consider taking me to a doctor or psychologist then know this, that we would have to end this relationship and you won't see me ever again, even if you try to track me. I will not be with someone who cannot trust me and considers me a nut case. I am being completely serious here and you think I am making things up." Hurt and anger washed over her and she was blinded by her emotions. How could Edward not trust her? Did Edward not trust her? Edward did not trust her. These were the main thoughts that were passing through her mind, blinding her rationality.

"Come see me at my house when you get that I am a magical being." She said with an ice cold voice that was devoid of any emotion and with that she stepped away from Edward. She then twirled around while saying, "Dinckle take me away." All of a sudden there were two pops and Bella was gone with creature that they could not recognize.

Everyone was stunned, motionless as vampires go when they are shocked beyond a reasonable degree. They felt everything go deadly serious when Bella told Edward she would end her relationship with him.

Edward was god smacked, never in his life had he considered that Bella would break their relationship. He did not know what to do or say, while in the mean time she just disappeared in the thin air with god knows what creature. Edward did not know what to do, all he felt was fear that Bella would leave him, that Bella did not trust him. His Bella did not trust him, it was impossible, improbable. It should be against nature. To summarize in few words, for him shit had just hit the fan.

Silence that hung in the air after Bella's departure was so strong that you could hear the water crashing in waves in the river miles away from Cullen mansion, as animals and creatures did not came near it. The silent that hung was deathly and impossible.

As shocked as Alice was, she was sane enough to look into the future. She saw Bella waiting for Edward for an hour and disappearing again with the unknown creature when Edward didn't turn up. She saw Edward coming out of his shock next day and going in search for Bella, but Bella was not to be found, no matter where they searched, no matter how much they searched, no matter how much ahead in time Alice saw, Bella was not with them, they were unable to find her.

They would never find her if she disappeared again with that creature, of that Alice was sure.

The vision brought Alice out of her shock, then she all but tackled Edward trying to bring him out of his shock. But it seemed Alice's vision had shocked Edward even more and he was lost in his sadness. She slapped Edward and slapped him hard. The power she put in her slap was so much that Edward got flung back in the wall besides him and crashed rather heavily into it. "Stop sulking and go bring Bella back before she disappears again to god knows where with that creature." This seemed to break Edward reverie and brought him out of his shock. He gave one look at the watch and ran as if his life depended on it; already 50 minutes had passed since Bella's departure. In ways more than one, the comparison might just hold true.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Bella reappeared with a pop in her bedroom and send Dinckle back to work before he could ask any question. She was hurt by the fact that nobody believed her, not even Edward and she had not even told them what she was. How could they not believe her when she had believed them that they were vampires who survived on animal blood not human. Vampires surviving on animal blood sounded as absurd as a man surviving on mere wood. This did not mean she did not believe them, she believed them and that was all the point.

At least she had not yet told them what she was, even if she disappeared, never to reappear again, the statue of secrecy would not be broken. Even with all the things she said, they could not decipher with absolute surety what she was. She did not know how to feel on this observation, whether be relieved that her secret had remained just that, a secret or to be disappointed that they would never know what she was.

When Bella came out of her brooding already 45 minutes had passed, she decided to latch on her last hope and wait for 15 more minutes. If she was hurt earlier, it was nothing compared to how she was feeling now. 45 minutes had passed and Edward had not shown his god damn face. Was it this difficult to believe that she could be magical, that she could be like them? She felt betrayed, by Edward, by Alice or by herself she did not know.

Minutes ticked by and still no sign of Edward came up. She decided it was enough, she gave him a benefit of doubts but he did not come. With 3 minutes to one hour since her departure from Cullen mansion, she got up and started packing her belongings. She then called Dinckle, who appeared with a pop. She took his hand as said, "Let's go back home" but she never got to finish the sentence as the window in her room burst open and Edward came through it. He then hugged Bella for all he was worth and as if his life depended on it.

When Bella came out of her initial shock, she screamed at him, "DOES IT TAKES THIS MUCH TIME FOR YOU TO BELIEVE ME, WHEN I AM DEAD SERIOUS. ONE SECOND LATE AND YOU WOULD NOT HAVE SEEN ME FOR THE REST OF YOUR EXISTENCE, YOU MORON." Edward kissed her then effectively silencing her.

When Edward pulled out of the kiss, he found Bella nearly in tears. "I am sorry." He apologized. "It was not that it took me this much time to believe you but it took me this much time to come of the shock that you were magical. You know that when we vampires go in shock, we go still as a statue. Pretty stupid reaction if you ask me but it was what slowed me down. I believe you when you say that you are magical." He completed with an annoyed expression on his face, the annoyance was on the natural reaction of his body to shock that caused him his Bella today.

"You believe me?"Bella asked in a small voice, almost afraid to be hopeful.

It pained Edward to see his Bella this unsure in him and in his words. He decided in that moment that he would be mature about anything that concerned Bella, it was not going to be easy as vampires are unchanging but love does change them and if his love for Bella cannot make him mature then damn him, he didn't deserved Bella, and he would not, could not loose Bella.

"Of course I believe you love, if not you then who is it that I would believe." Edward reassured Bella in a soothing voice. This seemed to calm her down a little. After a few moments he said, "Never do that to me again Bella, never." His voice was calm but it gave away the fear that he felt at the thought of being separated from her.

Bella looked down ashamed and guilty then said, "I cannot bear that thought myself but more than that I cannot bear you thinking that I am mad or I need mental help and I could see you going there. It would have killed me to have heard that from you Edward." She finished in a small voice.

"I am sorry" Edward said. Bella need not be told for what Edward was sorry for, she knew Edward was sorry for everything that had caused this disaster.

"Don't fret. Everything's well that ends well." Bella said and just liked that all their differences were lost.

"Want to tell me what are you?" Edward asked hopefully, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Aww" she said, then continued without falling for his charm, "That is for you to guess, dear, just I guessed what you were." Bella replied cheekily.

"But you cheated, you asked that mutt." Edward whined playfully.

"I did gave you a list too, so you are not playing completely fair either" She said and then continued "thus you have one try to guess what I am and before you argue anymore let's go back, Alice must be making others go mad with her squealing." Bella told him in a soft voice and then kissed him lightly.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**A/N2**:

A few people have raised views that Bella over-reacts or something you find stupid or unbelievable; to that I just wanna say this, wwait and read 4th chapter. Everything is explained in it. Do REVIEW please.


	2. You WHAT!

**FORKS **

**10****TH**** NOVEMBER, 1995**

Every member of the Cullen family was gathered around the table in the dining room of the Cullen mansion. The expression on their faces as serious as warriors discussing the strategies of war, well, except for Rosalie who was observing her nails in minute detail with an unimaginable curiosity.

Bella was watching them with an amused expression on her face; never had she thought that Emmett could stay in a place for more than a minute and that too silently.

Their solemn feature had a reason behind them; you cannot force a group of vampires and expect them to be silent, not with Emmett and Alice present. The reason for their solemn expression was their morbid curiosity. They had to guess what magical being Bella was in one guess otherwise they would have to wait one month for Bella to tell them, and they just couldn't wait. It was their lack of patience that was making even Emmett and Alice patient right now, ironic as it was, it was true.

Alice had tried to cheat and look into the future but she had been horrified with what she saw. When she first searched in the future, she saw Bella telling them that she was a Zombie; horrified, baffled and knowing that it was not true she had looked again to see Bella telling them that she was a Dwarf not believing this too she had seen Bella telling them she was a giant. Famished at such impossible answers she had looked at Bella only to find her looking at Alice with a knowing smirk gracing her face. Alice had then narrowed her eyes at her and then blew a raspberry 'to make her point clear'. After that she had given up searching future for the answer.

Thus as a result everyone was sitting in the dining room, contemplating 'the answer'. Carlisle had tried to match Bella against the characteristic features of the creatures in list that Bella had given them but failed to come to any reasonable conclusion, mainly due to the reason that all the features he had drawn up were from myths and tales that he had heard. He had already crossed out giant, dwarf, zombie, werewolf, hag and the like without even giving them a single thought. He was now struck on Bella being a witch. Carlisle's father had been a pastor when he was alive and had lead many raids against creatures of magic or dark and dangerous beast as they called them. The witches that his father had burnt were all ugly looking women in their late 40's or 50's, who used human sacrifices, organs and blood for magic. They had done horrendous things to the people around them, though they should not have been burnt but Bella was nothing like them.

While Carlisle was lost in his own musing his thoughts had attracted Edward's attention, could Bella be a witch was the thought prominent in Edward's mind. Keeping everything that Carlisle knew about witches aside, Edward began from a new direction, with a new prospect in his mind. Bella was confident and not afraid of what she was, so she must not be the horrible things in her list; was Edward's reasoning. But which creatures were horrendous which were not, he had no idea. So he decided to slash out the same creature that Carlisle had. That left him with mermaid, shape shifter, witch, and Elf. He then decided to tell his observation to others and to get their input.

"Hey everyone, I believe that Bella belongs to any of these four categories. These four are mermaid, shifter, witch and elf."Edward called out to everyone.

"I don't see any pointy features. She's not an Elf." Emmett said while observing Bella very carefully, searching for any 'pointy' features.

At this Bella guffawed, as if she found something extremely funny. Alice narrowed her eyes at her then said, "I guess she is not an elf by the way she's laughing at us. I think I need to remind her of her own theories about us when she was guessing what Edward was." That shut Bella up faster than anything else and she narrowed her eyes at Alice, but Alice just smirked at her.

"Considering how clumsy she is" Rosalie began nastily and then continued, "She could be a mermaid, as they are not adept to walking" Rosalie said with while still analyzing her nails. Every one glared at Rosalie at her jibe on Bella's clumsiness but just then Alice shrieked with a faraway look in her eyes, "Witch, Bella's a witch."

Everyone eyed Bella warily, waiting to see if she had baited Alice or had she slipped, but by the annoyed look on her face it was quite clear that she had slipped.

Noticing her expression everyone laughed. When the laughter died, Edward sighed in astonishment and said, "Wow! You are a witch, as in you could do magic!"

At this Bella's expression softened and she smiled then nodded in agreement.

"What can you do with magic?" Edward asked completely intrigued.

But before Bella could answer, Alice spoke with a gleeful tone that was very much similar to the notorious pixies that Alice looked like, "She can make Rosalie go bald."

"WHAT?" shrieked Rosalie while clutching her blond locks to her chest, as if they were the most precious thing to her, and considering that she was a vampire who would never grow hair again, they most probably were. "She wouldn't dare." Rosalie threatened, sending death glares at Bella.

"I wouldn't threaten her Rosalie, if I were you. It was your comment that made her want to make you bald, and you looked damn funny without them" Alice said and started laughing uncontrollably, then Edward started snickering too, seeing the image in Alice's mind. Rosalie sneered at them and glared at Bella to which Bella raised an eyebrow and pointed at her hair.

"Can you really do that?" Rosalie asked horrified at the thought.

But Bella just smirked.

Rosalie's reaction caused a loud round of laughter. When the laughter died out, Bella stood up and pointed a piece of wood at the door and started muttering in Latin. Then as each word or phrase was said, a jet of light was released from the tip of the wooden piece and hit the door. Every one watched in amazement, when multicolored lights escaped from tip of the wood and hit the door and walls. When finally Bella stopped everyone was watching the piece of wood with amazement.

Bella noticed them gaping at her wand and said, "This is my wand. A wand is a magical instrument which helps in channeling a witch or wizard's magical energy to create powerful spells."

"Is that what you did just now, a spell?" asked Esme in amazement.

Bella nodded and said, "They were protection spells and anti-spy spells so that no one can overhear what I say."

"Who would come here?" Emmett asked rhetorically, and then continued, "Let's say someone is brave enough to try and spy on us, even then we would hear them from a mile away."

"Who said they would have to be here to spy on us, they could very well be at their homes." Bella replied and then continued "and hence we would not take any chances. It's always better to be safe than sorry."

"Why are you taking such precautions Bella? Are you expecting someone to spy on you?" Edward asked, confused by her such cautious behavior.

Bella pondered on it for a moment, to whether tell them about the war or not, but then decided that if she trusts them enough to tell them her secret, then she better tell them about the war too and come clean with it. "Yes" she said. This caught everyone's attention. "Not only spying but I expect them to be doing much more than that" Bella said with a definite malice in her voice that usually did not define her character.

"Why?" Edward asked, worry clear in his voice. Why was his Bella acting with such hatred towards someone?

"Calm down!" Bella exclaimed and then said, "I am not in any immediate danger." Hoping to calm Edward but it seemed to have opposite effect.

"Not in immediate danger?" Edward quoted her and Bella winced at her foolishness as she realized her mistake.

Bella sighed and answered, "Before I tell you about that, there is something else that you need to know."

"Oh please, please Bella; please tell me you are their princess." Emmett said wriggling his eyebrows outrageously and bouncing in his seat. For two people non-related by blood, Alice and Emmett were annoyingly alike. Edward gave Emmett a dirty glare and that shut him up, but his expression said that it won't be for long.

"Don't be daft Emmett, I am their Queen" Bella replied, trying to be pompous. To which Emmett was the only one who laughed along with Bella, the rest were not amused by her attempt to change the topic.

"Focus, Bella!" Alice snapped at her, worried by her sidetracking the problem.

Bella sighed, and said, "Well the thing is that everything that you know about me is a lie." The silence following the statement was thunderous. Bella looked at everyone, trying to decipher their reactions through their emotions but all she saw was shock.

Jasper was the first one to overcome his shock and ask the next question which seemed to break the shock of other members of the Cullen clan, he looked at Bella with an emotionless face and uttered a single word, "Explain."

This is it, Bella thought. Either this will re-establish their trust in her or completely shatter it. Make it or break it, was the thought that crossed Bella's mind just as she started explaining. "I mean, I am not Charlie Swan's daughter, I am not American; I am not some clumsy pushover as everyone knows me, I am not at all weak and this is not my real appearance."

If the silence that fell before this was thunderous, then the silence that fell now was mother of all the thunders, lashing her kids with a whip. "This is not even your true appearance?" Alice asked in a hurt voice.

Bella had till now, not felt guilty about her actions as they were justified, but hearing Alice say that in such a small voice, was like bomb exploding in chest and filling her with guilt. Bella didn't dare look at Edward and see him looking at her with disbelief and betrayal written all over his face. But her guilt and conscience won over her logic and she turned towards him. What she saw, was not what she had expected. Edward was looking at her with expressions of not disbelief and betrayal but with an expression of patience, that he was waiting for her to go ahead and he believed that there was a perfectly logical reason for her to hide it all.

The sigh of relief that Bella let out on seeing him was all the reward Edward needed to know that he had made the right decision. When Bella had said that even her appearance was not her own, Edward had felt like his entire world had shattered, that he could not trust Bella again, how could he? Did he even know her? He had felt betrayed. Disbelief was one of the prominent emotions. He had felt like running away from her but that thought had brought an image in his mind.

The image was of Bella when she asked him that did he really believe that she was magical, and that was all it took for to rethink everything again. He knew if Bella had done something then it must have a very good reason behind it. He had then swallowed all his emotions and waited patiently for Bella to reveal her reasons, it had not been easy to swallow his emotions and change his reaction, especially as an unchanging vampire, his entire being had revolted against him but he knew that Bella was more important than anything else, even his own nature.

Seeing Bella afraid to look at him had broken his heart but then seeing her realizing that he was still waiting for her, had been worth all the effort he had to make. The hope that was in her eyes could have brought back a man given a dementor's kiss.

Edward then turned to Alice and said, "Alice, If Bella had to change herself this much then I am sure that she had strong enough reason to do so. Let her explain, then make your judgment." All this was said in a calm and soft voice so as to overcome the pain she was feeling.

After hearing what Edward had said, Bella went to Edward and sat in his lap, she then laid her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. When she was comfortable, she whispered a 'Thank you' with slight tears in her eyes. Edward then wrapped his arms around her waist and waited patiently for her to regain her composure. It was in that moment that they had made a bond that could stand any storm, like walls of a stone castle challenging the storm to even touch anyone within their shelter.

Even when Bella regained her composure, she remained in the position in which she was. She then relayed the next information with a sense of dread, "There's a war going on in the magical world, in which my family has as of yet not chosen any side and has remained aloof but that malicious bastard wants our co-operation. He wants us to bow down till our noses touch the ground below and lick his boots. He wants us to kiss his ass and be his servant." Bella had begun with a feeling of dread in her voice but by the end of her sentence she was seething with anger.

When she calmed down a little she continued, "But lately his methods to approach us have turned more violent. He started attacking members of my family, torturing and killing them, to induce fear in my family. But we are the Blackburn's; it's not so easy to induce fear in us." She paused here to take a deep breath as if to calm her anger and then continued. "His methods fell back on him, when the angry head of the Blackburn House declared him a sworn enemy of the House Blackburn. My parents fearing my safety, as I was an underage member, sent me here in hiding."

"But why does he want your family?" Jasper asked feeling as something was missing.

"That I don't know, but it has something to do our family history." Bella said annoyance prominent in her voice. "Many have been murdered in family over the past millennia. Some mysteriously disappeared never to return, some returned as corpses so mangled that they could only be identified by their marks, some tortured into insanity while other just plainly murdered. My family has had a bloody and brutal history." Her annoyance was melting into sadness. "That is why my parents sent me in hiding." Bella finished in a sad voice.

"Haven't your parents ever told you why they were all murdered?" asked Carlisle with sorrow evident in his voice.

Bella's mood didn't change as she answered "I don't think that they know anything about it. If anyone were to know why we have a bloody history, then my best guess would be my grandfather, Lord Blackburn."

Bella tried to settle the emotions that were bubbling in her and were threatening to break out of her control. When she felt comfortable enough, she looked up to measure the reactions of others before she continued her story. All the vampires were wearing shocked expressions mixed with incredulity and a need to keep their own safe, to keep Bella safe.

If anyone observed them and then came to a mere conclusion that 'vampires were stunned' then only one thing can be done to that person and that was to award that person the award of 'stupidest understatement of the century' and nothing else.

In the span of single day, they had suffered shocks aftershocks coming from same person, one after another and having a free go at them. They had to first absorb the fact that Bella had threatened hers and Edwards relationship, then came another blow as the fact that Bella was a witch. As if it in itself was not enough, there was a war going on about which they had no idea and in that too Bella's family was a target. And as if top it all, Bella's family had a very brutal history and many of her ancestors had been killed mercilessly. It was all too much to take in even for a vampire, given all that extra room in their minds.

"But I am getting ahead of myself here." Bella continued and then, she once looked at every one once and continued, "Magical world lives in secrecy from the rest of the world. We do not want to mingle with the rest of the world and neither do they want to mingle with us, so the secrecy remains and it is better this way. Magical world went into hiding in the late 16th century and the separation between the two worlds was so strong that magical world would seem as a backward society to most muggles."

Bella observed them and then quickly continued "But it is not so, as our culture is quiet different and you better not compare it to modern muggle culture." Seeing the expression of everybody present at her use of word muggle she smiled and said, "Muggle is a human without magic, so you all, when you were human were muggles."

Bella smiled and continued, "Wizards and witches are divided into four groups. Though this division is not present physically as it is not recognized by law, but yet it is known by all and followed in every minute detail by purebloods. First in the division are Muggleborns, who are referred by purebloods as mudbloods. These are wizards or witches are born to muggles that means that his or her parents were not magical folks. This is considered the lowest category of wizards, though you will find muggleborns to be very powerful wizards."

She sighed at their revolted expression but continued anyway, "The next in the line are Purebloods. They consider themselves the highest pedestal of the social ladder and consider everyone else as filth beneath their shoes. These wizards come from a long line of wizards and witches that means that the parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents and so on all were wizards." If they were revolted before then it was nothing compared to what they were feeling now.

Bella ignored the looks as she knew all this was not directed at her but at the ideology and went on with her explanation, "Third category is of Blood Traitors. These are pureblood wizards that sympathize with muggleborns and consider the pureblood agenda as nothing but bullshit. The reputation of a blood traitor's family depends on their wealth. My family lies somewhere between the two, we do not believe in the pureblood agenda but neither do we love muggles with all our hearts and our family up till today has remained pureblood. The fourth category is of half-bloods. All the wizards that do not fit any of the above categories are called half-blood even if they come from a long line of witch or wizards but if they have muggle or muggleborns in their lineage then they are half-blood's."

Bella looked at their faces and looks of repulsion and said, "Don't look at me like that, I do not support most of their views. Besides these divisions had some basis when they occurred but the passage of time has damaged the original division." At this everyone else controlled their reactions.

"What would we be in your that division Bella?" Emmett asked mocking the system of blood prejudice and trying to lighten the dark, somber mood. "Since we are powerful and all and no human could defeat us so we should be super-pure-bloods or something stupid like that. Wouldn't we be?" Emmett finished his mockery.

Emmett's comment seemed to have an opposite effect on Bella. Instead of the smile that Emmett expected, a sad expression graced her face.

Bella smiled a sad smile amused at Emmett's antics and saddened at true picture of her society. She looked at Edward and then shifted her gaze to Emmett to respond, "If only that were true Emmett." She wished and then said, "You all are vampires, non humans. You are sentient humanoids but you are either beings or creatures." Bella then lowered her gaze and stared at floor as she continued, "You stand lower than squibs, lower than muggles. You are the lowest of the low. You are dirtier than filth in magical society."

"Lowest of the low!" Rosalie snarled and then continued, "When I am tearing you apart, limb by limb then we'll see who's dirtier than filth." Rosalie finished, ready to pound on Bella to fulfill her threat.

Bella turned to her and snarled back, "I don't have a habit of rolling in filth. If you don't have enough brain cells in that empty space behind your massive, ugly forehead to understand that I am standing here and talking to you means that I don't think of you people like that, then ask Carlisle to give you a brain transplant maybe that will help you." Rosalie, who was not expecting Bella's retaliation in their verbal spar, recoiled back and gawked at her.

Bella then sighed in pleasure and said, "Sweet Merlin! That felt good." She then turned to Rosalie and said, "Now listen here Blondie, I am not some insect that you can squash beneath your thumb. If want to be a bitch then be ready to face a bitch, bitch." Rosalie just scowled at her while Emmett fell down from laughing too hard, which deepened Rosalie's scowl and earned Emmett a week of NO SEX, at which Emmett's laughter disappeared and he looked like puppy who had been kicked.

When all vampires came back to their senses that had been overflowed with information and verbal battle between Rosalie and Bella, Bella continued her story again, "So, every so often a dark lord pops up in the magical world." Bella said trying to bring some humour in the long somber story and then continued "A dark lord will be analogous to Don or mafia of the underworld in muggle terms. But he is much more dangerous as he can do much more damage than a muggle. The magical population is already very less so anything he does, has a massive effect on magical world."

Here she paused and looked at them to make sure all of them have understood what a dark lord is; then she continued, "Recently a new dark wizard rose to power, the most dangerous and powerful of all the dark lords ever rose to power, and his name was Lord Voldemort. He was a staunch supporter of pureblood agenda. Thus he gained power quickly as nearly all the purebloods supported his rise. He murdered anyone who came in his way, men, women, children, anyone."

"He wanted to kill all the muggleborns and rule over the muggle world and magical world alike. Voldemort was so feared in the magical world that people dare not take his name. They called him you-know-who or he-who-must-not-be-named. But fifteen years ago something happened." Bella paused to organize her thoughts and then continued. "He went to murder a family of three; father, mother and an infant. He killed the parents but for some reason when he tried to kill the child, the curse rebounded back and destroyed him instead."

Bella took a deep breath and said, "The name of this child was Harry Potter. Defeat of Lord Voldemort caused Harry Potter to be famous among the entire magical world. He was celebrated and was named as boy-who-lived as no one who faced the killing curse lived to tell the tale, except Harry Potter."

She then paused to see whether everyone was with her or not and then continued, "But little over 4 months ago, Voldemort came back to life using some damned ritual in which Potter was a key ingredient." Bella noticed Carlisle's repulsed expression and shrugged, she had told them that there were people who practiced hideous magic, then she continued, "He fought a duel with Potter. During that duel something happened due to which Potter was able to escape. Voldemort was not pleased; and he has been after our family ever since."

"Why would he be after your family?" Edward asked in concern.

"I don't know." Bella answered exasperated and then continued, "Most probably why every other psychopath had been after our family."

When Bella finished her tale, everyone fell silent, though this silence was not uncomfortable or thunderous, it was just that everyone was absorbing what Bella said and was thinking upon it.

Then Emmett frowned and turned to Bella, he then narrowed his eyes at her and said in a voice that clearly implied that pain was on its way to meet the listener, "You never told us your name Blackburn." And then he grinned, unable to maintain the scary expression. At this Bella laughed whole heartily. It felt so good to change from depressing topic to light hearted joking.

She stood up and held herself with a grace that was not known to Isabella Marie Swan and said in an aristocratic tone, "Well Emmett Cullen, meet Annabel Katherine of House Blackburn." At her grace and poise every mouth in the room was fell open, even Rosalie's.

"My lady!" Emmett exclaimed in a high pitched mocking tone while bowing, to which Bella just laughed.

"Hey Bella, what do you look like?" Alice asked in an exited voice. To this Bella replied, "Not much different, me and my cousin are very similar" and then she started changing back into herself in front of their eyes. Her cheekbones became slightly higher; her jaw line shifted a little and became sharper; her eyebrows thinned; her skin changed from colorless, sickly pale to beautiful creamy; her lower lip became a little fuller, matching her upper lip; her hair changed from mahogany brown to beautiful dark black of the night with heavy dangling curls and her eyes changed to beautiful silver colour with no pupils. _**(1)**_

While she was becoming herself all the others were watching her with eyes so wide that they were on the brink of popping out of their sockets. When she saw their reaction she just gave them a knowing smirk and said, "Emmett! Now you can bow." At this Emmett laughed. Bella was beautiful; her skin was slightly tanned, fair and healthy; bringing her eyes out and complimenting her darker than night black hair that hung at her shoulders in brilliant elegant curls. Her grace and poise added to her personality elegance, to create a perfect figure of an aristocrat.

When Alice came out of her shock she squealed then hugged Bella and said, "Oh, we are going to have so much fun."

At this Bella scowled and replied, "No Alice, I really do not like shopping so we are not going anywhere near to a shop." As she said that as she changed back into her old form. This seemed to bring everyone out of their shock and they all gave her a look which was of disbelief. Alice pouted at being denied an opportunity to shop but promised to herself that Bella needed a new wardrobe and that too instantly; while Edward was looking at her with an expression of awe and maybe, lust, Bella guessed. Bella lowered her gaze to confirm it and then gave him a knowing smirk at which Edward squirmed uncomfortably.

"Who is this cousin you said you look like?" Edward asked, trying to change the topic and avoid Bella's smirk.

"My cousin is, whose identity I was borrowing here, that is, Isabella Marie Swan. I based my look here on hers as I wanted people to believe that I was Uncle Charlie's daughter so that if she ever came back here, she could fit in easily."

"Charlie is your uncle?" Esme asked. To this Bella nodded and said, "My mother's brother, he's a squib though; that means born in a magical family but with very little or no magic."

"Can anyone change their appearance at their will in your world?" Rosalie finally asked in an expressionless voice.

"No, only a handful of people can and they are called metamorphmagus. I am the first metamorphmagus from the House Blackburn in many centuries. Though we have kept it a secret so don't go blabbering that I can change my appearance at will. It is a very, very rare ability to have. " She said meeting everyone's eye at least once, finally she her eyes met Rosalie's. Hearing her answer, Rosalie just nodded.

Rosalie was used to being the most beautiful. She had always been the most beautiful women, wherever she went and this has caused her to go vain. She became a shallow person, always absorbed in her own beauty. To her, her beauty became the first priority. She cared not for others in her vanity. But this had changed the night she was changed. That day, seeing her friend with a child and a loving husband had caused a lot to change within her. The vanity in her had suffered a great blow but it still remained rooted firmly in her. That day she saw the joy of a family life with a child and husband. She wanted it; she was ready for it, even if at the cost of her beauty and her figure.

But that had not happened. Instead all her dreams were shattered by the one whose children she was supposed to carry. She was left to die and then she suffered a fate worse than death. She had to live the eternity with the reminder that her fiancé had raped her with his friends. He had left her for dead. He had taken away one thing she had come to want, one thing she had wanted to sacrifice everything for, even her beauty. He had left her barren.

This was carved in her non-forgetting vampire mind, with the knowledge that she would never be a mother. She would never have her own children. Even though she had a loving husband but she would never be able to carry his child.

All these thoughts were carved in her with as much longing as she had felt that hated day; even perhaps more so as her vampire self had magnified those feelings. The realization that she would walk this earth for eternity, being the more beautiful than anyone else had not been joyous, as its price had been too great. To her, it seemed that when everything else bloomed, the earth, the human women and even the animals, she was barren and would remain so the rest of eternity.

This realization had destroyed her. She saw women with their children, animals with their babies and all those thoughts and memories always had come rushing back and flooded her with sadness. This had stopped after meeting Emmett, but it still was a part of her.

All this had changed her to degree that she was no longer the girl that was vain in her beauty. Rosalie was vain, but this vanity was the one that had suffered a blow and then had got magnified. The sacrifice that never happened had affected her worst. It had left her bitter and hollow. This gap in her being was then filled by the bitterness and vanity. She loved her family but she came first and then everyone else.

Seeing Bella change her appearance was cause of lot of grief for Rosalie. Not because she thought that if everyone could change their appearance then they all would be more beautiful than her. She had asked that question to judge the level till which level magic can manipulate something. She had hoped that if everyone could change something as physical as their appearance then maybe, just maybe magic could also help her. Maybe she could change her body to that of a mortal. She had a hope but she was afraid, that it would turn false; and this fear of a false hope was the cause of her grief.

Bella's answer had taken away a tiny glimmer of hope that had emerged for first time in a century. Living with a mindreading vampire had trained her in how to hide her thoughts, so Edward had no knowledge of what had just gone in her head. She supported this by impassiveness of her face, as it gave no sigh of what was going on beneath the surface.

One could hide their thoughts in their mind but one cannot hide their feelings, as they are physical. So it was with look of confusion that Jasper looked at Rosalie. He had felt Rosalie radiate joy, betrayal, anger, immense sorrow, hope and finally nothing in a very short time, but Rosalie was prone to such feelings so he thought nothing of it. Since Jasper did not think much of Rosalie's jumbled emotions, so neither did Edward. It's amazing how someone else's judgment can color our own and this was precisely what happened with Edward here.

"Bella you said you were not American?" Jasper asked in a voice still confused as he jerked from Rosalie to Bella.

"Yes" replied Bella in tone that was of a child who had been caught doing something naughty.

"Then where are you from?" asked Esme with a voice of a mother that was worried for her child. As Esme asked this she glanced briefly at Edward. Esme was worried for her son, she was worried that this whole affair might turn out to be only a fling for Bella and when she returned to her home, Edward will be nothing but a forgotten memory.

Esme knew that this was not the case, she knew that Bella loved Edward and would never do such a thing to Edward, she knew what Edward meant to Bella and what Bella meant to Edward. Still, knowing all these fact was not enough for the mother in Esme to stop worrying the man who was, all but in name and birth, her son.

Bella gave Carlisle a brief glance and then said, "England."

Carlisle was many things, a father, a doctor, a compassionate person, a person of strong virtue and many more but easily troubled was not one of his qualities. So when something troubled him, it meant that it bothered him on a very deep level. So this was why when Bella glanced at him to find him wearing a troubled expression, she became nervous.

Carlisle was a compassionate soul and tried everything in his power to preserve life, so when he saw life being thrown away and crushed for no apparent reason except for some morbid thing, it troubled him greatly. He had seen such crimes being committed when he was still human. He had seen people being murdered, their bodies torn open for some odd human part or something to be used in witchcraft. This was what had given him the zeal to hunt and kill the men and women who destroyed life. It was to save life that he took life. Odd as it may seem, it was true.

When Bella had told them that she was a witch, his mind had gone in overdrive. It had taken all the information that was known to him when he was mortal and had tried to match it with the Bella he knew. As much as his brain may try, the image of a witch that he knew did not fit Bella. But then again the Bella that he knew did not exist, she was just a fabrication of the woman standing in front of him, she was nonexistent.

All these thoughts would have had a lot of effect on Edward had he not been too preoccupied with his own musing on Bella, to give a thought to what others were thinking.

The next question to be asked Bella was asked by Carlisle, to keep his own sanity and to stand by what all he believed in and lived by, Carlisle had chosen to voice his thoughts. Carlisle tried to put it as gently as he could, but was not very successful. After all, how do you ask a person you have come to know and love that she is a psychopathic murderer or not? "Bella!" Carlisle began gently, masking his own feelings. "Had I known that the person you had portrayed for the past months was your true self, I would never have asked the question I will be asking now; but as this is not the case, I would ask you to clear my doubts."

That sentence made Bella feel guilty but the ignored it as she knew it was necessary.

While he said that, Carlisle had maintained a constant eye contact with Bella. At Carlisle's statement all of the Cullen's turned towards him and gave him a confused expression while Edward froze in his place, unable to view his Bella as murderer, a monster he had himself avoided being.

Bella felt that this was the moment of judgment that would mark her life with Cullen family from then on. So she maintained the eye contact with Carlisle and nodded, giving him permission to ask what was troubling him.

Without breaking his unnerving gaze at Bella, Carlisle asked her, "As you know my father was a pastor who organized hunts to kill creatures of darkness, to rid the world of evil as he called it. He organized raids to kill creatures such as vampires, werewolves, shape shifters" he paused here a moment to analyze Bella's reaction, when she did not give any out worldly reaction he continued, "and witches." At these world Bella visibly relaxed but then tensed again as a thought crossed her mind.

Carlisle noted theses reactions and continued, "The witches that were killed in the hunt were those who killed men and women to harvest their bodies. They committed inhuman practices on children and sometimes even ate them. What I want to ask is this Bella; do you practice that kind of magic?"

After hearing Carlisle's question, comprehension dawned on Bella's face and she replied Carlisle without breaking her eye contact to prove her honesty and that what she was saying was truth without any manipulation. "I have three answers for you Carlisle; all three to the questions you have in your mind but did not frame them as questions exactly." She said.

When Carlisle nodded to imply that he understood, she continued, "First of all, never ever a single witch or wizard died at the hand of muggles due to witch trials anywhere." After hearing this, Carlisle's eyebrows rose so high that they were lost in his hairline. When he composed himself he asked, "You mean to tell me that not a single witch died in those trials? Then who did we kill?" Carlisle asked, almost to himself.

"I am coming to that part." Bella replied annoyed that Carlisle wanted witches to die. "Not all you killed in those trials were innocent women." Bella framed her sentence to lessen the blow that they had killed innocent women and then continued, "Which brings me to the second answer, what you encountered then were not witches but hags. Hags are beings of a different sentient species that kill humans and eat children's flesh. You people killed many of them in those witch hunts." A small amount of relief crossed Carlisle's features that those hunts had at least found some of their true targets.

When Bella noticed that Carlisle was composed again she continued, "But that does not mean that there does not exist magic that uses human sacrifices and witches and wizards who do not use it. This type of magic does exist and it is the foulest kind of magic in existence."

"Magic related in any way with the sacrifice of life force is illegal and if practiced can land you with a fate way worse than death. Even you vampires would not want to suffer fate such as that." Bella completed and then said, "Thirdly, as for me and my family, we are not what are considered to be light family i.e... We do know and use dark magic that is frowned upon and sometimes illegal, but we never use it first. We believe it would be foolish to paralyze someone for a short time when they are trying to kill you with all their might." She finished.

"So the answer to your question Carlisle is that while I don't use that kind of foul magic, I can make you wish that you were dead if wanted to." Bella said her voice sent chills down their spine, despite the fact that they were vampires who did not feel differences in temperature.

A/N

(1): Eyes like Negi Hyuga of Naruto

And do not worry, vampires will play a major part. They don't have to be recognized to be powerful, now do they?

All those who review get a sneak-peak in the next chapter.


	3. Now what?

Hey people!

I have wonderful news….. I have a beta. The wonderful and lovely Miss km117 has agreed to beta this story from now on. So enjoy her wonderful work and mine too.

Now on with the story.

"So the answer to your question, Carlisle, is that I don't use that kind of foul magic but I can make you wish that you were dead if wanted to." Bella said.

This statement was greeted by the stony silence that can only be produced by vampires. This silence that enveloped them now encompasses the silence that comes with not breathing, the silence that comes with a heart not beating, the silence that comes with absence of life, the silence that comes with being vampires.

If Bella had been the person she had portrayed to be, then she would be fidgeting due to such attention and would be uncomfortable, but she was not that person, and what a relief it was for her to be herself again, what a relief it was to look someone squarely in the eye to make your point and not have to look away as a weakling. Bella was enjoying this, oh she was basking in this feeling of freedom that she now felt, and it was now that she understood what the value of freedom was. She was free after months of pretending, it was like being captured in her own body, unable to act like herself, like a person possessed, like a person with no free will. It was this realization that would now change Bella's outlook towards house-elves that served a family with no freedom, no will.

Bella kept standing where she was, her shoulders square; her head held high; her poise graceful and above all her eyes free of guilt. In that moment she looked very much like the aristocrat that she was and a person not afraid to face her deeds.

Bella waited for them to come out of their shock, it was seriously getting old for her. Every time she told them something about herself they went immobile and silent, if not anything else it was irritating and it was annoying her.

When it started to look like that things were not going to change anytime soon, it was then that Bella huffed, seriously annoyed by their shocked stone postures. She pointed her wand toward Emmett and using a non-verbal spell transfigured Emmett's clothes in a very tight, very pink and very frilly skirt, complete with over-use of makeup that made Emmett's eyes lashes extra-long, his eyes covered with so much eyeliner that they could give a bunch of depressed emos a run for their money, his cheek bones laden with so much blush that you had to avert your eyes to avoid pink, his lips smeared in bright brilliant red lipstick, covered by a strawberry lip gloss with very strong fragrance. Bella then proceeded to transfigure Emmett's pants into skin-tight, horrible pink slacks and his shoes into pink sandals with 6 inch heels.

Bella had thought that seeing her perform magic and seeing Emmett in such a situation would bring the vampires out of their shock but it seemed to have opposite effect, now they were stunned at what magic could do!

When her planned failed, Bella then decided to choose her next victim. She pointed her wand at Alice, her next target, but before Bella could perform her spell, a loud shriek escaped from Alice and she ran and hid behind Emmett, the biggest and burliest of them all. Alice then poked her head from behind Emmett and looked at Bella; the expression on Alice's face was similar to person who had seen a ghost.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

When Bella had made her announcement of how she could make someone wish they were dead, Alice could not wrap her mind around the concept, and coming from a vampire this meant a lot as they had a lot of free room in their mind. Alice could not comprehend how the Bella that she knew could hurt someone, let alone torture, or to make someone wish they were dead.

Alice was god smacked; she could not believe her eyes. Alice was contemplating how useful this would be, to be able to change clothes at will, when a vision struck her.

She saw Bella pointing her wand at her and then a ray of light immerged from it. It struck her square in her chest and her clothes began to change, her slacks shifted and changed into smelly, slimy, ragged, black baggy pants which had many holes from which some kind of maggots were crawling in and out. She saw her beautiful cardigan shift and change into a dirty, oversized, slimy t-shirt that looked covered in all kinds of grime. She saw her designer sandals change into big purple butterfly shoes complete with wings on both side an each pair. Her makeup became similar to Emmett's and her hair became a greasy mess.

The shriek that erupted from Alice's throat must have been heard in the one mile radius around the house. Alice was horrified by what she saw. She could not believe that she could look like that. What happened to her designer clothes? Where did they go? Where did those tattered, slimy, nauseating, eye-sore of rags come from?

But all these questions were sidetracked as a single thought came in her mind. And that thought was that if she did not move from her place this instant then she would be suffering that horrible fate. A bigger realization could not have come to Alice than this; she would not have cared if all of a sudden sun starts rising from the west. Realizing this she ran and hid behind Emmett's burly form. She then poked her head and looked at Bella as if she was some kind of ghost.

At this, Bella just snickered and tried to control her laughter. After seeing Bella stifling her laughter, Alice narrowed her eyes at her from behind Emmett and said, "You wouldn't."

At this comment, Bella just raised her eyebrow and looked at her. When Alice saw that Bella wasn't budging from her place she pleaded, "Please Bella, don't you love me anymore?" Alice, being Alice, pouted and gave Bella puppy dog eyes.

Bella looked at Alice for a moment and then brought her wand down and exclaimed, "Oh fine!", as if she had to suffer a lot of pain to let Alice go.

Alice then jumped from behind Emmett and ran towards Bella and hugged her, which Bella returned with a smile.

This seemed to bring everyone out of their trance and then they finally noticed Emmett's condition. Thunderous laughs broke out from all the vampires as a result, well except Emmett and Rosalie that is.

Rosalie was silently smirking at Emmett, trying to control the laughter building up inside her and trying to protect her image of the scary blond vampire bitch, but failing miserably, while Emmett was looking at everyone with confused expression.

Unable to understand the cause of their amusement, Emmett ran up to Alice's room, where a larger-than-life mirror was kept for Alice to play Barbie with Bella. The moment he stepped in front of mirror and saw his reflection, he began grinning and ran back to everyone. He then began swaying his hips outrageously and blew a kiss towards Bella, which she imitated to catch by jumping in the air and then closing her fist on the 'kiss', and then she blew her own kiss at Emmett and laughed when Edward frowned.

Emmett then started making suggestive gestures towards Edward and completed that by making lewd noises to which Edward just scowled. Emmett then, in spur of a moment decision, ran and kissed Edward on cheeks, leaving behind a rather dark mark of lipstick and strong scent of strawberries on him. Edward threw him off and deepened his scowl at him. Laughter broke out within the group at Edward's reaction and Emmett's antics.

While everyone was laughing, one single thought crossed Emmett's mind and that was 'mission accomplished'. He had tried to make the mood lighter and dissolve the tension that had built up during the morning, and that was what he had accomplished. Edward, realizing this, gave him a grateful nod and a smile.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

"So, what else can you do with magic?" Edward asked Bella, trying to come back to topic that he had now named 'the revelation', rather than having a discussion on Emmett's antics.

Bella turned towards him, still smiling at Emmett's antics and replied, "There are not many things that cannot be done by magic; transfiguring anything into food is one, and bringing back the dead is another. There are other things, but these are the most basic rules of magic."

If Bella had thought that answering Edward's question will bring an end to his and other's curiosity then she was very, very wrong. As soon as the answer sunk in their minds, all the vampires erupted in barrage of questions. Everyone wanted their questions to be answered but did not have the patience to hear the answer and thus they moved to a new question. It was ridiculous. It was a nightmare. It was hell. Their voices all got mixed together in one single entity, and that was noise.

Irritated by their behavior and to escape all the noise, Bella waved her wand to cast a silent silencing spell and all the noise died out in an instant. All the vampires were still trying to say something but nothing came out of their mouth as they tried to speak.

"Be quite all of you!" Bella grumbled in an annoyed huff, though her statement was a bit redundant.

Hearing Bella snap at them caused the vampires to shut their mouth real fast and look at her. She gave an annoyed huff and continued, "I know you are all very curious about magic. In fact, that's probably the understatement of the century, but all of you shouting your questions at me is not a solution and neither is answering your questions one by one, with all of you having barrage of questions ready for me."

She paused then and said in a contemplating voice, "What to do now?" Bella pondered at that point for quite some time and then she brightened as she thought of an answer.

"Okay, so here's what I am going to do. I am going bring my personal library here, for you all to study and satisfy your curiosity without bugging me" she said smiling or more like smirking.

"You personal library" Carlisle exclaimed disbelievingly.

"Where do you think I learnt all that?" Bella asked him exasperated, as if the question Carlisle had asked was on a very obvious topic.

Jasper opened his mouth to ask one more question but Bella snapped his mouth shut with a glare. She then called Dinckle and ordered him to bring her trunk that had all her books. Hearing his orders, he disappeared with a pop to reappear moments later with Bella's trunk. He then bowed and popped away again.

Bella opened the trunk and smirked. She then moved away and gestured for them look into it and take their pick.

All of them rushed forward but stopped dead in their tracks as they looked into it. But before they could comprehend what they were seeing Jasper snapped, "This is not possible."

Bella just smirked and replied, "And my dear, this is called space expansion charm." She then moved ahead and jumped in trunk. She landed with a soft thud and the vampires soon followed.

On the inside, the trunk was easily the size of a small apartment with two rooms and both of them were designed to be a study. The group moved towards the first room and Bella said "This room contains books on basics of subjects that children study at Hogwarts, plus course books. It also contains books on subject that a pureblood witch or wizard must know, things like etiquettes, politics etc."

She then pointed to the second room and said, "That room contains all the books that you might need as reference, or a book that an author has suggested to read for better understanding, or books on advance topics. It also contains books on… shadier aspects of magic."

"What's Hogwarts?" Emmett asked. Bella sighed and then went in first room and brought a thick tome and handed in to him. Emmett looked down to read the name of the book. It said: '_Hogwarts: A History'_.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

For the next week, things passed rather smoothly in the Cullen house,_ too_ smoothly if someone asked Bella's opinion.

Vampires were far too busy in her library to notice anything else and this amused Bella to no end. The more they tried to concentrate on her books the more she tried to irritate them; it was just too fun of a chance to let it go.

One of the funniest parts was watching Emmett study.

Emmett had never liked studying very much and he was more of a hard work kind of guy when he had been human; a man who tried to earn bread for his family by the power his body and his muscles. It does not mean that he was stupid –as he was not- he just didn't like studying.

So it was with an amused smile that Bella sat on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn in her hand and her eyes glued on Emmett. Emmett started a topic with great enthusiasm and big cheery smile on his face. He then read one page, then two and then three. Slowly and slowly, as he read more and more pages, his large smile will start to deflate and would be replaced by a prominent scowl by the time he reached the half mark of the book. He would then slam the book with frustration and pick the next one in the same section on an advanced topic that required the knowledge of the previous book that he had just slammed. Since it was on an advanced topic, it meant Emmett had to finish the previous book.

Emmett would then turn to face the previously slammed book with a pained expression on his face as if he had just eaten a rather disgusting looking sandwich with strawberry sauce, mustard and marmalade. He would slowly reach for the book as if it pained him to do so, and then read it for a little while before slamming it down again and moving to a new book, just to repeat the process all over again. Bella had watched and laughed behind a silencing charm; she had no desire to be at the receiving end of Emmett's pranks, thank you very much.

It was for the good of all things holy that Bella did not tell him that she was behind his misery; that she had charmed the books so that vampires would need the basic knowledge of the subject to read the books in the first place,so they were forced to read all the basics first. Bella was not stupid and knew that magic could be dangerous at times, so she had placed this charm just so that vampire understood the basics first and then moved ahead.

Emmett was not the only one harassed by the charm but he had the funniest reaction and it was hilarious to observe. Alice had tried to read many books at once, but only one in front of her had remained open, while all else was closed as soon as she her concentration had deviated. Carlisle had read as many books as possible in as less time as possible; it was like watching a child in Disneyland.

But by far, Bella had most fun torturing... err... irritating Edward.

A week had passed since her 'revelation' and Bella had yet to torture… err… irritate Edward, but for the life of her she could not come up with a plan. She had tried to talk with him while he read and surprisingly he had been able to have an intelligent conversation while having his nose dipped in the book. Bella had never in her life been more jealous of a book that at that moment.

She had huffed and puffed but to no avail. She had then stomped out of the room in righteous anger, but as she had passed Rosalie's room, she accidently saw a nightgown that was more like lingerie and an idea had struck her. She then smiled a smile that made a chill run down one's spine.

Bella had tried go shopping without Alice but had failed and for her attempt of such a blasphemy she had suffered a lot of grief from Alice, which included emotional blackmail, puppy dog eyes, pouting and deep sad eyes that were almost ready to shed tears. They both had then gone to Seattle and had brought dresses that she would not have dared buy as Isabella Marie Swan.

The dresses that had been bought that day had one and only one purpose and that was seduction; with deep necks, open backs, rich lace work, and custom made to Bella's shape perfectly to bring out the woman in her. Bella was ready to torture… err…irritate Edward.

All the while Alice and Bella had giggled menacingly only as women can, imagining Edward's physical and mental state. Edward's chastity was in deep, deep danger.

The next day, she had worn heels and one of the dresses that hugged her form beautifully and brought out her assets. It was a strapless and rich black in color with shades of silver. The dress had a back made of lace that left her back practically bare and barely covered her thighs. For this occasion Bella had changed to her original self.

Bella then went to where Edward studying and told him that she was going out, and had then turned to go when he just wished to stay safe and had not even looked up from the book. Then as an afterthought, she said that Jacob would also be there.

Hearing the werewolf's name caused Edward's neck had snap so fast in Bella's direction that she was sure if Edward had been human he would have had an immense cramp in his neck.

The first thing that Edward noticed when he snapped to look at Bella was her almost bare back. Her BARE BACK! Then he noticed that Bella was in her original form. Her ORIGINAL FORM!

Bella then turned around to look at him and he then noticed her dress, which brought out her assets, BROUGHT OUT HER ASSETS! And then he noticed the length of the dress. IT DID NOT EVEN COVER HER THIGHS!

"What are you wearing?" Edward then exclaimed in high pitched voice, barely controlling himself. Hearing Edward's voice, Emmett and Jasper turned to look at him. Not want any other male to look at Bella in that dress – if you could call it a dress – Edward ran and hovered above Bella so that she was hidden from their view. He then turned to them and said, "Nothing, just continue doing what you were doing."

Bella then peeked from behind Edward and locked her eyes with Alice and they both smirked evilly, eyes filled with sadistic glee. Bella then stepped from behind Edward and asked them "How do I look?" only for Edward to hide her again.

This short interval of time was enough for vampires to have a good look at her and their jaws dropped. Edward then picked up Bella, bridal style, and ran up the stairs to his room, while Bella said in a sing song voice, "Bye Alice", to which Alice just laughed.

Edward then dropped Bella in the bed and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. Bella looked him in the eye and tried to outwait him in the eye staring contest. Eventually Edward relented, too eager for an answer to wait any longer and asked, "Why are you dressed like this?"

Bella waited for a moment, deciding whether to torture him some more or not, then she moved her gaze south, smirked and decided it was enough for one day.

Following Bella's gaze and seeing her smirk, Edward squirmed uncomfortably and sat down in the chairwith a pillow on his lap. At this Bella just laughed and said, "I just cannot, not tease you dear. Do you have any idea how long I have wanting to tease you like a normal loving couple?"

When Edward seemed a little hesitant to answer then she said, "Well, a very long time."

Bella then tapped the space next to her, signaling she wanted him to sit next to him. When Edward was seated next to her, she turned to face him and then asked him to do same. She then climbed in his lap and straddled him, wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck while Edward stiffened.

Bella then looked him in the eye and said, "I want to be a normal couple Edward, not the couple of 'Beauty and the Beast' that you seemed to have confused us with." She then slowly pressed herself against Edward, kissed him lightly on the lips and continued, "I want to kiss you."

She made her point there by kissing him again, but with a little but more desire than previous and said, "And make out with you" here again she kissed him and continued, "like every other couple."

She then moved and kissed his neck, right below Edward's ear, nibbling lightly at his ear she whispered, "I know you have some reservations and believe me, I have some too, but that does not mean we cannot be normal." Edward could not control himself and a moan of pleasure escaped his lips. Bella smiled, satisfied with herself and with her work.

At this point Edward was so filled with desire that he could barely control himself. Bella had straddled him and was sitting in his lap with her chest against his. He was feeling emotions and desires that he had not felt in a century. The lust that he felt for this beautiful woman, the desire, the passion was far too much to control. But he could not forget himself; he could not forget who he was, what he was; or the price would be too great to bear.

As if sensing the shift in his mood, Bella leaned back from him, looked him in the eye and said, "I know you fear for me, you fear that you will hurt me." Here Bella paused and took a deep breath. This was the part that she was most concerned about. She had a way or kind of had a way, with which this situation can be handled, but it would leave Edward vulnerable and weak.

Edward was a vampire, used to strength, used to power; he might not appreciate the idea of being weak, and Bella feared that, Bella feared his rejection.

She closed her eyes and exhaled only to breathe deeply again; this time to breathe in Edward's scent and to calm down a little. Sensing Bella's tension, Edward rubbed her back lightly with one hand and caressed her face with another. She then opened her eyes and stared at the beautiful butterscotch eyes that were looking at her, waiting for her to complete her sentence.

"But what if I told you that there was a way; a way for us to lead our life as a normal, happy couple; that you would never have to worry about hurting me ever again." Bella breathed out in a hurry. She wanted to tell him, she wanted to tell him badly but her fear stopped her; gripping at her throat, her heart and stopping her from doing what she wanted to do.

Edward stared at her in disbelief. He had lived a 100 years and in all his life he had never come across anything that allowed vampires to interact with humans without hurting them. It was improbable. But he had never in his life met someone as Bella; a witch for God's sake. If she said she knew a way, then she might as well.

Edward then smiled at her and found the insecurity that lurked in those eyes. He smiled at her to remove those insecurities, to remove any doubt that she had about him. "Then I will be the happiest vampire alive." Edward told her truthfully.

Bella grinned, a big happy grin that threatened to split her face. "You have studied potions haven't you?" She asked but before Edward could answer she continued, "Do you remember Felix Felicus? Well in it malaclaw venom is base ingredient and the others are used to reverse the effect of venom to create luck." She paused again and smiled at him. "Well Re'em's blood gives its drinker incredible strength for a short period of time, so if the similar procedure is applied to it, the result will be a strength reducing potion." Bella finished her explanation.

Edward smiled brightly at the possibility. Seeing Edward smile, Bella continued, "If we try, we can create it without much difficulty; with Alice's gift a lot of work would be reduced. Since this potion is based on blood it should work on you guys."

Vampires start losing their memory after their rebirth. The more they thought about the memory, more is the probability that they would remember that memory. After his change, the blood lust had consumed him. At that time he had wanted nothing but blood, needed nothing but blood, desired nothing but blood. In those moments of weakness, when not feeding on humans seemed impossible, improbable; he had remembered what his mother used to say to him as a child whenever things got tough for him. He remembered her voice saying, "When times are tough and things seem impossible just remember, things are never impossible, they are improbable and improbable is not impossible." These words were what kept him from killing humans in those times, "Improbable is not impossible."

"Improbable is not impossible." Edward repeated with a smile. Then he frowned and said, "Isn't Re'em blood an untradeable item?"

Bella smiled and said, "Oh you don't worry about that, my family owns many animal reserves that harvest animal parts. Getting Re'em blood won't be a problem."

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Past week had been anything but smooth for Edward. First Bella had her 'great revelation', after that she had shocked them further by telling them that she was on the hit list of a psychotic mass murderer. As if that had been enough she had then handed them her books to read which had some sort of charm on them that he suspected Bella of heavily, let alone her odd behavior, her very, very odd behavior. He had also not forgotten her insistence of answering their questions after they had studied all the books in the library. To top all of it, Bella had then pulled that stunt that Edward had named as 'the barely clad Bella' stunt and now she was telling him that there was a way to be a normal couple.

Edward's brain had been totally fried till now with all the 'action' that had taken place in the course of last week and Bella's stunt and then consequent seduction were now roasting his already deep fried brain but when Bella told him that they could be a normal couple, Edward's brain literally shut down for a moment too short for Bella to notice and then restarted. A big grin adored Edward's face as he stared at Bella after his brain restarted.

He could barely consider the possibilities that this solution provided. He could literally not wrap his mind around it and all he knew was that Alice's ability would be a major help, a cheat code to the end result. They already had a beginning -the re'em's blood-, they had an ending -strength depleting potion- all they needed was a route to join the end and the start, which was where Alice would help. As soon as Bella stopped her explanation, Edward yelled at the top of his lungs, "Alice" though it was not needed. Edward was so excited that he forgot his century old habit of whispering and reverted to his human habit.

Edward's yell brought all the Cullens running to his room, and before Bella or any other vampire could say anything, Edward had explained everything to them at a speed too fast for Bella to comprehend. Bella then noticed everyone's smiling faces and Alice's bounce and comprehension dawned on her. She then turned to Alice and said, "Go on then, invent something for us Potions Mistress Alice Cullen"

Hearing her title Alice then squealed loudly, then hugged Bella and ran out of the room to study rest of the potions books which she had yet to read. Bella then called Dinckle and asked him to set up a potions lab a few miles away in the open space, Dinckle then Disappeared with a pop. When asked why she was setting up potions lab couple of miles away, Bella smiled mysteriously and said, "You'll know when you visit it." She then paused and then added as an afterthought, "Oh Edward, ALWAYS cover your hair when working with potions or it'll turn greasy."

For the course of next week a trend was set between Edward, Alice and Carlisle. It took Dinckle 2 hours to set up a potions lab a couple of miles away from Cullen house and then Carlisle and Edward started their experimentation along with Alice who stopped them many a times from Blowing the lab up. But alas it was not as easy as they all had thought it would be.

Three days had passed and try as hard as Alice might, all she was able to do was tell what would happen after this element and that or tell what would happen if the potion was consumed at different stages. Alice wanted to find out the whole recipe for this potion so that her brother and her best friend could be a normal couple. Her constant failures were causing Alice frustration to no end and no amounts of Carlisle's soothing words were able to calm her down. In the end Jasper was called to ease Alice up. His presence not only was comforting for Alice but for all the three vampires.

Though Jasper's presence calmed him, Edward was not much disturbed to begin with. He was a strong believer of philosophy that good things happen to people who wait. After all he had gained Bella's love after waiting for her for more than a century. He was patient and knew that he would invent the potion that they needed it would just take time.

Deciding that it was time for a break, Edward headed out to the main house. After all, non-stop work on potions for three days will even tire out a vampire. Entering the main house Edward found Bella in his room, lying on his bed, asleep. He then sat next to her and just watched her beautiful form. He just sat there and observed her. He began noticing how much she was different from her fake persona of Isabella but still was somehow similar.

They both shared the same straight nose and shape of eyes. While observing Bella's eyes Edward noticed a stray strand of hair hovering above her left eye. He moved to tuck it behind Bella's ear but as soon as his hand touched her skin, he received a massive shock and jerked his hand away. It was as if he had been electrocuted with a massive amount of current.

Edward began to panic as he did not know what was happening or what to do. There had always been between him and Bella. Whenever they had touched or sat to close in their biology class they had felt it, but this was not it. That spark had been inviting, tingling, pleasant while this was bloody power line. It felt violent, aggressive, non receptive; it was as if it was protecting something.

Before Edward's panic reached a new height Esme came barging in the room. She had received Alice's call that Edward would be in Bella's room and panicking. Esme then noticed Edward's expression and tugged him out of the room. She then took a deep breath while Edward was still panicking and had not noticed that Esme had tugged him away. Esme then cupped Edward's face, forced him to look him in her eyes and said, "Calm down Edward! Bella's safe. I know what she's doing."

Hearing Esme say that she knew what was happening brought Edward out of shock and jerked his neck towards her. He then asked her still panicking, "You know what is happening?"

Esme frowned a little, the expression seemed out of place on her kind face and said, "No, not exactly." She then continued Before Edward could start panicking again, "Bella said to keep everybody out while she …. sleeps" Esme said, a little confused herself and then continued, "She has been doing that regularly since she told us she's a witch. She is nice and healthy every time she wakes up and even looks fresh and relaxed. You do not have to worry dear. She's all right. There's nothing wrong with her." Esme said the last few lines to placate Edward who still seemed unsure.

Edward then took a deep breath and asked, "She has been doing this since she told us she was witch? Why do I not know?"

Esme smiled slightly and replied, "Well my dear, you have been pretty occupied for past few days; first with the books and then with this potion." Seeing that Edward was still feeling wary Esme said, "Do not fret dear. She'll wake up in an hour or two." With that Esme left Edward and went back to gardening.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

During all this chaos, one thing had remained fixated in Bella's mind, well except irritating everyone, and that was to achieve the goal she had set for herself.

Now that she would was not being traced, Bella had decided to use her time for something useful, something that might help her or her reputation as a magical being, as a witch.

Bella had no desire, no wish to be stuck in the muggle world, to live her life as a non magical. She was a witch; magic was a part of her, a very important part. It defined who she was. So she expected to be reunited with her family, her friends, her life, she wanted to be reunited with magic itself.

Bella missed the feeling that came from being in presence of magic. When one was in a place which was built on lay line joints and had its magic rooted in earth through them, one could feel the magic in the air, one could feel it tickling one's skin, wrapping around it, snaking on it and just playing on one's being. It was nature's way of recognizing one as a magical, it was nature's acceptance. Places such as magical castles, or places that dealt with high amount of magic on daily basis; places like Hogwarts, Ollivander's shop, stone hedge etc...

Bella wanted to be in touch of magic, to be embraced by it, to be hugged by it. She wanted it so as to remind herself that she would one day return to her family. It was magic that made her a witch, made her a Blackburn and it was magic that made her feel connected to her family.

So Bella had decided that if she was stuck in the muggle world, with no chance of being in touch with magic anytime soon, then she would be in touch with the magic that was hers, that resided in her and made her a witch.

To achieve this aim, Bella had searched for hours in her library when she left the magical world, searching desperately for something that would let her feel connected to her family by allowing her to feel magic. Finally she had found one method that would not require any thing or require her to be at any specific place.

This method allowed her to immerse in her own self and be in touch with her magic. It removed any outward binding, any worldly attachments and allowed her to view herself in most primal form that were instincts, magic and memories.

After all, these were what constituted one's soul. A person reacts on the basis of their instincts, it was the reason different people react differently, the reason no two people are same, as no two set of instincts are same.

Memories were at work when people make decision, instincts work on people's reaction. These were what constituted a soul, instincts, memories and magic. So it was these three parts that Bella needed to work on to achieve her goal.

These three parts were then represented in her core though different means. Her magic formed a realm to soothe her memories and her instincts, to soothe Bella as a whole.

Her memories formed a semi corporeal shape of her body, to represent her and her desires while her instincts formed to become animals that were a representation of her mind, of her instincts, of her memories and of everything that was her but her magic. The animals did not represent her magic.

For an animal that represented her magic would have had to have its own magic and that would need to be merged with Bella's magic; it may lead to the animal overtaking her body and her mind. Causing Bella to be lost and in her place would live the animal that represented her magic.

This method that Bella had found was the oldest method for animagus transformation that required a person to be in tune with their magic, to know their magic, to experience their magic and Bella loved it. Bella's aim was not to become an animagus but to experience magic and this method allowed that.

If she had wanted to be an animagus then there were other easier routes that led to same result. She could have used the animagus potion; that would force her mind to take form of the animals that her instincts represented, that she represented. Then when she had accepted her form, she would have to slowly learn to transfigure her body in that of the animal, starting with skin, then hand and then slowly moving to transfigure her body completely in that of the animal. This was the reason that animagus transformation was considered to be advanced transfiguration.

Bella loved the old method as it led her to her goal, to be in touch with her magic with an added bonus of achieving animagus transformation.

Bella started trying to reconnect with her magic soon after she left the magical world, as absence of magic made her fell hollow inside. Bella was sent into hiding on 29th June; 4 days after resurrection of Vodemort, so by the time Bell had revealed herself to Cullens already four months had passed since she left her family and started practicing the old method of animagus transformation.

House Blackburn's brutal history had led them to take drastic steps to keep their secrets safe and protect their members. Children often hear things they should not and try as hard as they might parents can't hide everything from their children; this caused many kidnappings and mind rape of children in the past and to prevent information leakage, it became a necessary for children of the House to learn to protect their minds as soon as possible.

For Bella this process started when she reached the age mark of four years. It started with little amount of breathing exercises on daily basis and as she grew old, these methods evolved to meditation and then finally it lead her being a master occlumen by the age of 10.

This occlumency training helped her a lot when she was homeschooled, as it led her to keep her memories separate and well documented. Due to this she excelled at remembering things and thus most of her theory subjects, as all Blackburns did. This also helped her, like all Blackburns, in remembering a time period of her life that most people never remember, infancy.

Now it was this same skill of occlumency that was helping her in reaching her goal. Occlumency did not make animagus transformation as easy as a walk in the park but it did help her considerably by separating her memories, the first step that took a major portion of time of this process.

Since Bella's memories were already separated, all Bella had to do was learn to bring forth her magic and to allow her instincts to develop. Bella had never been one to not speak her mind. She was a person who wasn't afraid to speak what she thought and always let herself be free, never the one to be restricted, thus hiding behind someone else's personality for the past months caused a major setback in future plans of development of her instincts; so Bella was way too happy to let the persona of Isabella Marie Swan go away.

To recover from this setback, Bella had been continuously trying to learn to bring forth her magic for the past four months. Since she could not move ahead to the third step of developing her instincts, she was honing her skill at bringing her magic out. She was able to do it now almost instantaneously. Since she was not releasing her magic but bringing it out to let it hug her skin and play on it, the trace on her had not been activated. It was risky business but Bella was never the one to back away from a challenge.

Now that Bella had completed two steps for the animagus transformation; first and most time consuming step of separating her memories, which she had been doing for past 7 years and the second step of bringing forth her magic which she had been doing for past four months, she was more than ready for the last stage of developing her instincts.

Thus for the course of last week Bella had been allowing her suppressed instincts to emerge and allow them to develop. This caused Bella to be way more expressive of her feelings. When she became happy, she didn't stop the giddiness that overcame her and allowed giggles and laughter to escape. When she became exited, Bella became a mirror image of Alice complete with every bounce and every hop. When Bella became anxious, she fidgeted more than a four year old on sugar high.

This behavior of Bella's earned her more than one raised eyebrow but she did not explain anything to anyone, she wanted it to be a surprise. During this time, Bella had a lot on her plate, varying from irritating vampires to reconnecting to her magic, so she decided that a break from school was necessary. Thus Bella taken a leave from college on the account of a contagious disease and her medical report had been gratefully forged by Carlisle.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

So, I have a request.

You all would have noticed my attempts at humor. I would appreciate if you all would tell me weather my attempts are successful or not. So can I expect you all to respect this tiny request of mine?

Reviewers get a sneak-peak in the next chapter too.


	4. Question and Answers Part 1:

A/N: Okay, this is unbeta'ed version. I am uploading this because it has been quite some time since I last updated. The beta'ed version will be up soon too, as km117 is working on it currently. That's all for now.

Forks

20 November, 1995

Bella was bored. The past three days had been boring as hell for Bella. Edward had dedicated all his time to the development of the potion and as if that had not been enough, he had dragged Alice and Carlisle along with him.

Irritating Emmett was fun but Bella only irritate him so much. Rosalie was a bitch. Esme was far too motherly to irritate; Bella had nothing fun to do.

Bella knew that she was kind of, sort of, maybe whining but she couldn't help it and the worst part was that no one was even there to listen to her whine!

Though Bella was continuously working on developing her instincts, but there was still a limit until which she could release herself and not be considered a mental case; thus she had to take a break from school to let herself go. Since her goal was to be in touch with magic and not to become an animagus, she was in no hurry. She was allowing her instincts to develop, relatively slowly as she had not told anyone about her goal and its end result.

She wanted to have a good look at Edward's face when he would be gaping at her after she transformed in front of him for the first time.

So to fill the relatively free schedule she had, Bella began practicing bringing forth her magic as much as possible. She loved the feel of her magic dancing across her skin, snaking on it, enveloping her and playing with her. She could feel, as magic slowly rose from within her body, from her blood, her bones, her flesh; leaving a pleasant tingling sensation as it touched her insides and finally emerged and hugged her skin.

Bella had been practicing with her magic for quite some time and slowly with time and practice she had achieved a level where she could bring forth her magic at a fast enough speed but still a lot of work was required to polish the skill.

And now that there was nothing better for Bella to do she was practicing it as much as possible. She had tried many positions for her practice and the most comfortable that she had been was when she had been lying on her back, so that was the position that Bella most used.

She would lie in bed with her eyes closed as if sleeping; but falling asleep would be the last thing on her mind. She would then start with the breathing exercises and slowly she would calm her mind and her body. She would then start concentrating on the feel of magic, of how it felt when she casted spells and her magic rushed through her hand and flowed into her wand and when it finally released in a jet of light as a spell.

She would concentrate and try to feel the same experience but without a wand and without releasing it. She would then concentrate on the tiny thread of magic was present in her until it was the only thing that she could feel. Concentrating on that thread of magic allowed her to feel the web of magic that resided in her. She could feel the magic cruising in her body as it flowed in her blood, in her flesh, in her very bones.

It was like a web of veins that were filled with magic. It was like circulatory system that delivered blood to different parts in the body but instead of blood this system filled her with natural magic.

With practice Bella had no longer the need to concentrate on the thread of magic in her hand to reach her 'magic system'. She was instinctively aware of her magic at all times.

It was then that she had tried to bring forth her magic. She had urged it to rise from her body and manifest on her skin. She had felt it as it rose from her blood, her flesh, her bones; she had felt it rise from the very fibers of her being.

It had then remained on her skin and danced on it. She had relished the feel of magic, enjoyed it and had been one with it.

It was exactly this that Bella was doing when Edward came looking for her and got shocked as he touched her while bushing away stray strands of hair from her eyes.

Bella's magic that was playful and joyful, in that moment changed its nature to show its very different face to Edward.

Magic was force, energy and when it resided in mortals it brought joy, happiness calmness with it but when it felt that the mortal in whom it resided was threatened, it changed to protector and guardian. It was for this reason that when magical children fall, they bounce off or they land with a soft thud. It was for this very reason that when a magical being survives an injury that would have had proved fatal to a muggle and thus were able to play quiddich without killing themselves.

So while Bella meditated and relished the feel of her magic; Edward tried not to panic, he tried not to hyperventilate –though vampires couldn't-, he tried to be relieved by the fact that Bella had done this many times and had been fine afterwards. Edward tried, he really did, but he failed with flying colors; he couldn't not worry about Bella, the one person that was the centre of his existence.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Edward was nervous; no, he was not nervous, that would be an understatement if there was one, so better to say yet, he was baffled, he was confused and he was panicking. He did not understand what Bella was doing or why she was doing this… whatever it was that she was doing. But the fact of the matter was that Bella had been doing this for quite some time now and he had no knowledge. How was this possible? This question alone had baffled him. He knew he was preoccupied but this preoccupied that he did not notice Bella having electricity running over her body.

As if this was not enough to have him panicking, confusion came along hand in hand with bafflement. Why had been Bella doing it since past few days? This question confused him even more. Did Bella feel that she was not safe at his house and thus had something protect her while she slept? Did she believe that someone would harm her while she slept? Questions after questions filled his head with no answers anywhere.

All these unanswered questions about Bella safety had him panicking. He was about to eat his own fingers in agitation when Bella's breathing sped a little to reach normal level of a waking person from the slow, deep and even breathing of a sleeping person.

Relief flooded Edward as he saw Bella twitch her fingers and start fidgeting. He let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Bella the opened her eyes slowly and upon seeing him, she smiled brightly.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Bella had reached a state where she felt satisfied about the speed at which she could bring her magic out. Her memories were already sorted and that was left was instinct development. So she had decided to check how much they had developed. She wanted to see whether her instinct had developed enough to form the realm of animals that her instincts represented.

So after Bella had called forth her magic she let her instincts have a free reign. She was not holding them back even an ounce. This caused her magic to change and have an instinct based sentience. Slowly and slowly Bella found herself losing her senses. Her surrounding dimmed a little. The sounds of life that existed in Cullen house became distant. Edward's smell that lingered in his room grew faint. Touch of sheets against her skin became ethereal. Her surroundings dimmed until she lost feel of everything that existed and then finally she lost feel of her own body.

But before Bella could panic something changed in her surroundings. All the darkness that had enveloped her changed. It changed from blackness of oblivion to darkness of a moonless cloudy night. A night when you could not even see where you are, when you can't even see where you are standing or what is in front of you, when all you feel is darkness of the unforgivable, cold and distant night.

Slowly dark forms began to emerge from the night. It was as if areas seem to grow even darker to show something was there. The ground began to grow texture and she could finally make out the dried leaves that were scattered everywhere. Trees emerged from the darkness with their thick, dark trunks and distant leaves. For trees were all, that she could infer; they were far too dark to judge their color and what kind of trees they were. Then, as if on cue shrubs began to emerge. Their thin stem seemed to fade in the surroundings; their leaves came next, following their support.

As if to prove that all this was real and not just her imagination, sounds that belong in a forest faded in her ear. They grew from nothing to the life of night. There was faint rustling of leaves as wind passed through trees. There were voices of different animals in the distance; voices of hyenas barking, of monkeys yipping, of hoofs shuffling, of noses snuffling.

Sense of smell graced Bella next. The smell of earth came first, the thick sweet and bitter aroma that rose from ground. The strong aroma of wild fragrances brushed Bella then, a mix of aromas brought together by the travelling wind, the sweet scent of flowers, the spicy scent of trees and many others mixed together in one, to make the scent of the forest. The faint scent of decay followed the wild fragrances to complete the aroma and nature of jungle, as dead leaves and trunks of old dead trees rotted and returned to earth to re-nourish their mother.

The next change that came was that she could almost feel her body again. She lowered her gaze to analyze herself and what she found was not her body.

The form that she had taken was a replica of her human form without any modifications from metamorphmagus gift but this body was not quite solid. It was as if she was a ghost but truly so. Her form was far too paler than ghost and unlike them had color. Her hands were the color of beautiful crème, the color she was born with. She was wearing a cloak that belonged to her mother and she loved dearly. She had a faint glow emanating from her body but the dark night swallowed it all.

If Bella had thought that it was all then she was in for being proved wrong. Bella looked down at her feet and saw that she was standing good few inches above ground. She urged herself to float ahead but nothing happened. So she took the old fashioned road and just took a step ahead. But no matter in which direction Bella moved, the view did not change. All she saw around herself was dark of the night. She could feel that she was in a forest of some kind but that was all she could infer.

Deciding that her instincts needed more development Bella reined in her instincts and grabbed control of herself again. Slowly, as the scene had emerged from darkness, it faded the same way. Smell of forest left first, followed behind by the sound of jungle, leaving Bella with a sense of loss. Then slowly the shrubs dissolved in darkness and then the trees followed; and then the feel of her ethereal body left her too. Ground dissolved then at last, leaving behind just a cold, harsh night; then it changed too and Bella was left in the darkness of oblivion.

But as soon as darkness was achieved, it was gone too and Bella could again feel her body lying on Edward's bed. She could feel the touch of sheets and smell the lingering scent of Edward's. She then opened her eyes to see Edward sitting beside her and smiled brightly at him.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Seeing Bella smile was all the proof Edward needed as he jumped forward to scoop her in his arms and hugged her gently. Bella was smiling when he let her go but it disappeared when Edward opened his mouth to speak.

"Are you all right?" Edward asked Bella, his receding panic still evident in his voice.

Bella's smile was now replaced by a frown as she questioned him back, "Yes, why do you ask?"

Edward sighed again as he retold the events that led to his panic attack. Bella's frown deepened as she heard him explain and the said, "That should not have happened." Her face then scrunched in thought as she elaborated further, "You do not have magic, thus my magic should not have perceived you as threat; it should have not attacked you."

It was as if light bulb had been lit over Bella's head as her face cleared of all the negative emotions and was split by the grin that spread over her face. She then grinned at Edward and explained, "My magic should not have reacted to a non magical person but it reacted to you so that means that it did not perceive you as non magical."

Bella then took out her wand and thrust it into Edward's hand; expecting something to happen. But when nothing happened, the light on her face visibly dimmed.

Edward not expecting it and now not knowing what to do sat there with a Bella's wand in his hand. He felt a little foolish, as, to him Bella's wand felt like another piece of wood. He hated that Bella was upset that the piece of wood –though he knew better- was not working for him.

Bella then looked from her wand clutched in Edward's hand and then turned her gaze to look at Edward. Realizing that nothing was going to happen, she said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave."

So, Edward did as asked but to him Bella's wand was just 'that piece of ornate wood' and nothing else. So when Edward waved Bella's wand and nothing happened, he was not at all surprised but the bulb that had been lit over Bella's head went off with a puff.

Seeing Bella was disappointed, Edward again moved Bella to his lap, looked her in the eyes and asked, "Would it had change anything, if you wand had work for me?"

Bella felt like a child being made guilty for its actions as she replied, "No it wouldn't have changed anything, but it would have been nice, had you been able to do magic."

"I agree it would have been nice, but consider this; if I had been able to go magic then we might never have met." Edward chastised lightly.

Sadness marked Bella's face at Edward's word and she replied, "I didn't realize." She then continued, "But you do have magic Edward because my magic reacted to it. May be vampire magic is different like goblin or elf magic. Bella sighed in disappointment.

"May be your gifts are manifestation of your magic." Bella theorized.

Edward, who had been listening to Bella till now, smiled at her theory but did not say anything as he had more important things to discuss. He still had no idea what Bella was doing, with current or magic or whatever it was, running all over her body.

So Edward decided to divert their conversation back to the topic at hand. He wanted to know did she feel unsafe with them or was their some other reason for her to this. "Bella, do you not feel safe here with us?" Edward asked.

Bella frowned at him and then replied, "No, why do you ask Edward?"

Edward frowned at that and said, "If you feel safe here then why did you had your magic running all over you, protecting you?"

Bella's frowned deepened for a moment before realization hit her and a mischievous glint entered her eyes as she smiled at him. "Oh what I was doing was not for protection." Bella said leaving half the answer unsaid.

"Then what were you doing?" Edward asked her.

"I was trying to be in touch with my magic." Bella answered. "There is no magic here; I was trying to remember the feel of magic." Bella again gave half the answer; she had no intention of ruining her surprise.

Edward knew that there was something that Bella was not telling him; after all living with Emmett for more than half a century had got to have some effect and learning to recognize the ever present mischievous glint in his Emmett's eyes was one of the first such effects. There was also the fact that she had tried to guilt trip him too, so Edward knew something was wrong, because Bella, which he had come to know now was not a person to show her weaknesses easily.

So when Bella had smiled at him with the same mischievous glint in her eyes, Edward had practically let out a groan but had controlled himself just in time. Thus when Bella gave all his answers willingly; he knew there was something that she was not telling him.

Edward eyed her critically for a moment and then tried again, this time directly to get the information out of Bella, "What are you not telling me?" Edward asked.

Bella gave him a startled look, she was not expecting him to catch up to her and figure out that she was hiding something. But the shock wore off soon and the startled look was replaced by a mischievous grin. "What gives you the idea that I am hiding something?" Bella asked him instead of telling him.

It was now Edward's turn to be startled, he did not expect Bella to come out straight like this. He raised one eyebrow at her as if asking 'seriously' and said, "This attitude right here tells me you are hiding something."

Bella huffed at that, "Fine!"She exclaimed and then continued, "But I am not telling you."

Edward crossed his hands at his chest and asked, "Why?"

Bella smiled an innocent smile as a wicked thought crossed her mind and she rose from her seat. She then moved towards Edward and seated herself in his lap, straddling him while Edward went stiff as a board. She then locked their eyes and said, "Because". Then she leaned in to kissed Edward's lips lightly then leaning back a little she said, "I". She then gave him a smearing kiss, deepening the light kiss that she had landed before and said, "Want".

Bella then angled herself and moved towards Edward's neck, tracing it with light kisses as she moved and said, "It". She then stopped moving only to start nuzzling and biting the diamond hard skin on Edward's neck and said, "To". She moved again and took an earlobe of Edward's in her mouth and started sucking on it, tracing light lines with her tongue she said, "Be". She then stopped her sucking and started nibbling Edward's ear, enveloping it in her warmth and said, "A". She then leaned back again and gave him few light kisses and said, "Surprise."

She then rose from Edward's lap and started to move out of the room. When she reached the door she turned her head to analyze her work. Edward sat there stiff as a board, his eyes bogged while the front of his pants sported a rather large bulge. Bella hid a satisfied smirk and instead an innocent smile graced her face as she asked Edward, "Was there something else that you wanted dear?"

When she did not receive any reply she moved out of the room to only see Emmett and Jasper laughing themselves off while rolling on ground and emanating loud guffaws. Alice and Esme were not far behind too and were laughing uncontrollably, barely saving themselves from fate similar to Emmett and Jasper. Carlisle though quite composed was laughing hard too while Rosalie was smirking openly and eyeing Bella with new appreciation.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked them, trying to act innocent and save Edward's honor a little bit. But her sentence seemed to set them off again and this time even Rosalie was laughing.

Bella huffed and started to climb down. As she stepped down from the stairs, she was knocked out of breath by Edward, who came running behind her at full vampire speed and picked her up. He then ran out of the house with Bella still in his hands.

He finally came to stop against a tree, where he locked Bella between himself and the tree. He then stared at her asked, "Do you know, what do you do to me?"

Bella smirked at him and asked back, "What do you mean, what do I do? I never did anything that would do anything to you."

Edward let out a low growl of pleasure as Bella moved forward to wrap her arms around Edward's neck and pressed her chest against his in the process. Bella smirked as Edward's finger dug in the tree.

"You know what I mean." Edward growled out, barely able to keep his hands to himself.

"No I seriously don't know Edward. Please stop confusing me." Bella said in the most innocent manner possible.

"This." Edward growled out as his finger went deeper into the wood.

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed, "You mean when I do this." She then pushed herself closer and then proceeded to breathe in his ear, "or do you mean when I do this" she said as she nuzzled Edward's neck.

But before Bella could further give examples, Edward let out a loud growl and said, "This, this and much more."

Bella smirked at him and said, "Of course, I know what effect I have on you dear; I wouldn't do it otherwise."

This time Edward threw a barely controlled punch at the tree and it shook wildly under his force but Bella remained unfazed and kept on smirking at him.

"You know perfectly well that I cannot reply like that and it's not fair you taking advantage of me like that." Edward said, barely holding himself from kissing the beautiful women in front of him.

"Life's not fair, dear." Bella said as a mischievous glint entered her eye. "Besides, this gives you another incentive for developing that potion as soon as possible."

"You know what Ms. Blackburn; you are going to regret that you ever teased me like this." Edward smirked at Bella this time as he retreated and allowed Bella to be free.

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed. "Is that a challenge, Mr. Cullen?" She asked as she stepped away and started to move forward.

"It's not a challenge, Ms. Blackburn; it's your fate." Edward replied as he came in line with Bella and took her hand in his own.

"We'll see who regrets it Mr. Cullen." Bella challenged back as they both walked hand in hand and fell step in step.

Edward then brought Bella's hand, which he had been holding to his lips and planted a light kiss. He then said, "That we will, Ms. Blackburn that we will."

They trailed in the forest for some time after that, sometimes in silence, sometimes while having idle chit chatter about their daily lives. It was their alone time, their time in peace.

There was something bothering Edward and he wanted to sort it out but it was a sensitive topic. Edward knew he was at fault when he didn't believe Bella was a magical being, but in his defense, who would believe if you tell them you are a magical, just out of the blue. What bothered Edward was the Bella's reaction. There were a lot of ways Bella could have handled the situation but the way in which she handled it, was the worst one. Edward wanted to understand her and wanted to know why did she threaten to leave them? Was he not important enough to wait?

So with a baited breath, Edward voiced his opinion and asked, "Bella?"

Bella was enjoying the silence of the moment and gave an unconcerned response, "Umm hmm."

"Why did you react so badly?" Edward asked a little on edge and thus throwing all caution out of the window.

Bella came to a halt and tuned to him with a frown gracing her features, "When did I react badly?"

Edward sighed, he did not want to say it out loud but Bella was giving him no choice. "When you told us you were a witch."

Bella's feature hardened as words came out of Edward's mouth. She looked at him with cold eyes and said, "I never told you I was a witch."

Edward frowned at first but then quickly realized that Bella never did tell them that what she was.

"True." Edward confessed then. "But you are skirting around the topic."

Bella looked away from him and asked him with her voice still carrying the steely note, "Edward, what are you?"

"Vampire." Edward knew where Bella was going with this, so he let her, after all he was at fault too.

"And what other creatures have you come across till now Edward?" Bella asked again with the same steely note in her voice.

"Werewolves and shape-shifters." Edwardsighed.

"So you are a vampire, who knows that werewolves and shape-shifters exist, then why it was so difficult to believe that I was a magical being?" Bella asked, irritation seeping in her voice.

"I know I was at fault." Edward began. "And I am sorry that I did not believe you, I should have had a more open mind but that's not what I am asking." He finished.

"What I am asking is why did you leave? Why you did not gave us a chance? Why did you threaten to break our relationship?" Edward finally said. He asked the one question that had been bothering him since last week.

Bella remained silent for a minute, emotions racing on her face. At first her expressions showed defiance, she was not ready to accept that she had been illogical, that she had not given them a chance and that she had over reacted. "You were looking at me as if I was crazy." She deadpanned, making Edward wince but he did not relent. "You could have explained it to me more. You could have used your wand."

"Yeah, as if foolish wand waving will have proved something. You all would have been even more convinced that I had gone mental." Bella seethed through clenched teeth.

"That might have been the case, but if you had transfigured something then we would have been forced to accept that you were a witch." Edward replied calmly. He did not want her to leave seething.

Bella's expressions became pained as she forced herself to accept that she might have, kind of, sort of over-reacted. And then finally, she relented and accepted the fact. Her eyes were downcast and her hair covered her face as she was defeated against Edward's argument. Bella looked like she had finally lost a battle that she had been fighting for some time. She looked broken and lost as if she feared something very bad happening.

Bella began speaking then, but her voice was hollow and small, as if of terrified child. She still stood in the same position, the position in which she lost her internal battle. Seeing Bella so lost and vulnerable caused Edward's worry and over protective nature to resurface. He wrapped his arms around her and sagged in him, too tired to hold it all in herself.

Edward tried to calm her down and after sometime his efforts seemed to bear fruit as gained control of her body again. "By the time of my birthday, I had already been in hiding for 4 months." Bella began telling her reasons in a soft voice. "For the most part of those 4 months, I had to hide myself and react like I was some pushover while I was not. It grew on my nerves, sometimes I just wanted to throw all the reasons out of the window and hex the bitches in next week but I couldn't." Bella exclaimed.

Bella then turned to face Edward, "I was supposed to come out of hiding and return back to England soon after my birthday." Edward tensed at this news but before he could panic too much Bella continued, "I had planned to ask you all to come with me; it's not like you need to continue your education here." Edward calmed down after knowing that Bella didn't plan on abandoning him.

Edward concentrated back on Bella, now that his minor panic attack ad subsided. What he noticed, was not what he expected. He had expected, Bella to be angry and a little annoyed but he had expected her to be worried. "It has been 10 days Edward and they have not yet made any contact except sending a house elf." Edward understood where Bella's thoughts were going but he let her continue. He knew that Bella needed to get her worries out of her mind, so he let her talk and listened patiently.

"There's something wrong Edward, something has gone very wrong. They sent Dinckle to live here with me, to protect me. Why do so? Why not just call me back? Things would have much worse than they were when I left. Why else would they not want me back? There must have been more danger than they anticipated." Bella rambled on, a little hysterical. The worry for her family's well being coloring her perception of everything around her.

Edward remained quiet not knowing what to say. He did not know much about magical society in general and did not want to make a promise that he could not keep, something told him that would not appreciate being lied to, and so he skipped 'everything will be alright' speech.

Bella remained wrapped in Edward for quite some time while he comforted her and just held her. Slowly Bella regained her composure and remained quiet, if not a little submissive. Edward was suspicious about Bella being so quit and agreeable as the Bella that he had come to know was anything but. Edward was contemplating confronting her about it when Bella's quit voice reached him.

"I apologize." Bella said with her eyes still downcast and voice small and shy.

Edward had his suspicions so he asked, "What for?"

Bella remained quit for a while and then answered Edward, "For over-reacting back then and…"Bella trailed off.

She took a deep breath in as if to strengthen her resolve and then said, "… and for losing my composure and burdening you with my problems."

Edward stopped dead in his tracks, he felt like he had been kicked in gut and then hit on head with a baseball bat. Since when did Bella have to apologize for losing her composure in front of him or for sharing her problems? If she could not do such things with him then who would she rely on? He was her boyfriend, and in his mind much more; Bella had to know that she could share her problems with her.

Edward turned to face him, speechless. He did not know what to say. He did not know what to say.

Realizing that Edward had stopped, Bella turned to face him only to find an incredulous expression on his face. "Why would you apologize for opening up to me Bella?" He asked.

Bella frowned, "I do not want to burden you with my problems Edward."

"Your problems are not burden to me Bella." Edward replied, his voice conveying his resolve. "You are my girlfriend, and I hope much more in near future; you should be able to tell me about your problems and feel that I might feel burdened or I do not want to know your problems." He looked her directly in her eyes then. "If you feel that your problems might burden me then think I have failed us." He then shifted his gaze to look away from her.

Bella felt guilt run through her as Edward said his last sentence. She really did want to tell him her problems but Edward had always had more pressing things to give attention to, things like how not to kill her.

Bella moved forward and cupped Edward's face in her hands and gently guided his eyes back to hers. "You have not failed us Edward. It's just that you always had more pressing things to give your attention to." She did not want to say out loud what more important things were.

Edward gazed in her eyes, as if searching weather she was saying that just to comfort him or not. "Nothing is more important to me than you Bella." He breathed then.

Bella smiled at the pronouncement and nodded. She then started walking again with Edward at her side. As they walked, Edward slid his hand in hers and laced their fingers.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Edward and Bella reached Cullen house, hand in hand with small smiles on their faces. Alice took a look at them and gave them a knowing smile, which was pointedly ignored by both Edward and Bella.

It had been 10 days since Bella told them about being magical and then refused to answer any of their questions until, as Bella would say, 'they don't chew her out for every little detail'. To avoid such a situation, Bella had given all the vampires her books to study so that they at least knew basics of all things magic.

Now that more than a week had passed since the 'revelation' and Bella was contemplating answering questions that the Cullen family had after reading the books. Making up her mind at that moment, Bella called out to them as she reached the dining table, which ironically enough amused Bella that it was not used for its intended purposes.

""Alright, gather around for some question and answer rounds." No sooner had the words escaped Bella, than multiple swoosh sounds were heard and six vampires were seated at the table. A chuckle escaped Bella at their anticipation, even Carlisle and Esme had excitement leaking out of them. Rosalie was the last one to join them as she came strolling and took a seat besides Emmett.

To immense surprise of vampires while to immense indifference of Bella, Rosalie did not sneer or direct a snide remark at Bella. Rosalie could have marching wearing nothing but a tutu for all Bella cared. Now that everyone was present, Bella started the inquisition. "Fire away." Bella started.

Edward was the first one to start the interrogation. "Why did I never see your wand before you told us? Why…"

Edward was cut off by Emmett's loud exclamation and then his proclamation of his views; after all how can Emmett pass up an opportunity to tease Edward. "Let's agree on this Eddy boy, you are not that good a stalker." Emmett said. He then closed his eyes, crossed his hands over his chest and nodded his head sagely, as if he had just come upon the truth of the universe.

Edward hissed and glared at Emmett for interrupting him but before Edward could do anything more than glare, Bella had taken the stage. "It's because I did not have it then, Dinckle brought it to me on my birthday."

Edward frowned at that. "Why did you leave your wand behind? Wasn't it unsafe to leave your only weapon against enemies behind?"

Bella nodded, she had not wanted to leave her wand but her parents had put up some very good reasons. "Each wand has a trace on it, that is monitored by Ministry of Magic for underage sorcery. That trace allows them to locate the wand in case of need. If I had brought my wand with me, it would have alerted the ministry that I had left England and also of my exact location. But now that I am recognized as an adult that trace was removed."

"You are an adult? Just what is your age grandma?" Emmett exclaimed, a smirk playing at his lips.

"I am 17 gramps." Bella snapped. "Magical world recognizes a witch or wizard as adult when they turn 17." Bella then said through narrowed eyes.

"Anyways" Alice jumped in then "What was that appearing or disappearing that you do with that elf?"

"That is called apparating and disapparating." Bella answered "Its magical way of travelling. Its fast but not exactly pleasant."

"Can't you do that on your own? Why do you need Dinckle?" asked Esme.

"I can apparate, but all magical travels are closely monitored by ministry." Bella replied. "If I were to apparate here, then it would immediately alert American ministry that an unsolicited witch lives here."

"So Dinckle …apparating you does not alerts them?" Edward asked.

"Elves do not exactly apparate, they shift. Their magic is different from wizards." Bella answered with a frown, she herself did not understand this concept entirely. "Besides, wizards do not monitor elves' magic."

"What is the mark on your arm?" Edward asked. He had only seen it twice, when Bella had revealed her true form.

Bella turned to look at Edward and then lowered her gaze to focus on her left arm. Slowly something began to emerge from beneath the skin. It was as if the tattoo was a part of the skin and not something unnatural that was force on it. It had a winged reptilian creature that looked like a snake with legs and wings, coiled around a sword. Each of its wings spread on both sides f the sword and each talon griped the hilt of the sword. The snake and sword were encompassed within a shield.

"It's the Blackburn's mark." Bella said, with adoration clear in her voice. "Every member of the Blackburn House is born with this mark on their arms. It's a proof that I am a Blackburn."

Bella then looked back at the vampires, "It differs from person to person. Sons and daughters of the House have the same marks as mine. Head of the house has an occamy, that's the winged snake, wrapped around the sword on a background of a set of double doors. Those that are not a member of House Blackburn but are protected by the house, just have the occamy coiled and the sword."

"Why would someone want to be protected by your house? Your house already has a brutal history to begin with." Jasper voiced his opinion which earned him a glare from Bella.

"My House has immunity from any national laws that are passed in any government. A member of House Blackburn cannot be charged by any government except ICW, that's International Conference of Wizard." Bella held her high, her pride in her house was leaking out of her. "Thus my house offers national immunity and international protection, which many a wizards require many times to escape the corrupt government. Let me tell you wizards like Nicolas Flamel are under our protection."

"Isn't that the maker of Sorcerer's stone?" Asked Carlisle asked with incredulity evident in his voice.

"Yes he is." Bella gave them to the point answer, just to irritate them a little.

Carlisle waited a moment for Bella to continue but when she didn't she prompted her again, "But why does he need protection from the government?"

"Carlisle, he created a stone that can convert metal to stone and offers immortality; don't you think every government that can, will they not try to have it confiscated for their own use?" Bella asked him instead. "Our house offers him protection from any such action and since all these governments cannot trust each other enough to bring it in front of ICW, stone remains safe in Mr. Flamel's custody."

"Wait, wait." Rosalie spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "Back up a minute." She completed. When she had everyone's attention (that was what she was seeking) she continued, "Why and how, does your family gets international protection?"

Bella chuckled when Rosalie voiced her question. She smiled when she noticed that everyone had a curious expression on their faces while Rosalie was glaring daggers at her. "I wasn't laughing at you." Bella said between hiccups.

"Our protection is a result of the coup that one of my ancestors played when ICW was still young." Bella began. "You see, Mostly purebloods marry other purebloods within their locality, so after a few generations, this leads to inbreeding. But unlike them, Blackburn's marry people from other nations. Like my father, who's an English pureblood married my mother, who's an American pureblood."

Bella then paused to see weather everyone understood or not and then continued, "Generally purebloods have power in the government as a seat in wizengamot or parliament, so when someone marries into a family that has say only descendant as a female then that seat passes onto that woman's children and thus into a new family."

"My family, i.e. House Blackburn has been doing this and has been marrying into families that have their last generations. Many Houses have grown weary of this and ask for a betrothal contract so that the second son carries the mother's maiden name to continue the line. Though the name of the mother's family continues, but that house becomes a cadet line to House Blackburn, bent to the will of Lord Blackburn." Bella finished.

"While this history session is all nice and good, it doesn't answer my question." Rosalie snapped having grown tired of Bella's story.

"Patience, dear bitch, patience!" Bella chided in perfectly calm voice, making Rosalie seethe in anger.

Bella then continued before Rosalie could retort and continued as if she had not been interrupted, "This allowed House Blackburn to have many seats and countless properties all over the world in many countries. So whenever conflict rose in one country, Blackburn's just cited that they were a resident of some other country too and avoided the conflict."

All the Cullen's were listening with utter concentration as Bella unwrapped her tail. "But when ICW came into power and many countries began asking for House Blackburn to be controlled and reigned in. It was then my many-time-great grandfather and then Lord Blackburn had this coup played out that tied us to ICW. They thought they were reining us in but instead we were granted international protection." Bella finished her story with that.

"It must have been one hell of a coup." Jasper voiced his opinion.

"Oh it surely was! There was a lot of hue and cry over it but they finally settled down." Bella finished in a pained voice.

"There's more to it, isn't it?" Carlisle asked. Everything could not have turned out all daisies and sunshine, no matter how brilliant the coup was.

Bella grimaced. "Yes there is. When they realized what had happened, they were all over it; but Lord Blackburn pulled some strings. Mainly bribing and threatening I was told, but he got them of his trail." She paused as if in thought and then continued, "It was not until murder of Lasiandra Blackburn was committed that the worst folly was the coup came into light."

Bella then took a breath as if to calm herself down. "Since House Blackburn does not recognize its members as a citizen of any country, the offenders could not be punished as there was no law that was stated in ICW charter, broken. ICW judges us only when a crime has been committed by us and not when it's committed against us."

"Okay!" Emmett said, jumping in the conversation before Edward could question Bella. He then continued to divert the topic to something much less unpleasant. "Back up here a bit. I understand that why do people need protection of your house." He then leaned in as if deep in thought, "What I don't understand is, why does your family offer protection to people? I mean and I hope that they don't just go offering them to anyone who asks for it, do they?"

Bella nodded. "For many reasons actually, but mostly to increase our influence in different parts of the world." She gave a small sly smile to Emmett. "Whoever takes the mark of Blackburn, they owe their allegiance and loyalty to Lord Blackburn and if the protected person is Head of a house or Noble family then the protection is granted in return of that line becoming a cadet line to House Blackburn."

"Sounds too much like the dark mark" Jasper observed from his seat.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

A/N 2:

I hope this chapter answers some questions that were raised. Mainly Bella's over-reaction and don't worry Cullen lovers, this is a HP/Twilight crossover so they do play a major role. When I mentioned the position of vampires that was just to emphasize the bigotry prevelant in magical Britain.

I have question about Harry Potter world. In Deathly Hallows, Harry is transported from private drive to order safe house because apparating can be tracked (tell me if I am wrong), but later the trio is galloping all across UK, apparating like mad, and the ministry does not notice it. How? In the start of the book, ministry has not yet fallen but little old voldie can track them down but when ministry has properly fallen and is under old voldie's control, He can't catch them! Please explain. I so need to use it in the future chapters.

See you soon.

Bye.


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